Xmas lights worked first night. Lights would not work next night. No circuit breaker was tripped (reset all anyway just to be sure). Checked & outdoor outlet was dead. The other 2 outdoor outlets are also dead. No GFCI receptacles outside to reset. I did find 1 GFCI receptacle inside & reset it. That is the extent of my electrical skills. Is there anything more I can do before calling electrician? Thanks. Fred - Miami

our incoming wire is the old cloth covered type and needs to be replaced. our wire comes straight down into the house the goes about a foot to the right to the meter then another half foot to the service panel. on rainy/windy days the wire itself becomes saturated and where it enters the meter is rusty. the other side of the meter going to the service panel looks fine. my question is what kind of job should this be considered? I had an electrician out to estimate and he seemed like a crook. He told me my panel box was only 60 amp and neeeded to be upgraded. i showed him my original inspection that said it was 200 amp service and he said the inspection was wrong. then he said he was going to have to install hard wired smoke detectors (code in our town when electrical work is done) when I said we already had them he said we didn't without even looking until i dragged him over to the one in the basement to show him. sorry for all this unneccessary info just wanted to let everyone know why i'm not eager to have another estimate done. All in all he said the entire job would be around $2000. not including the hard wired smoke detectors. (that we don't need) is this accurate to replace a wire? it seems pretty steep?