GFI outlet bad?

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JohnnyC

JohnnyC

Long ago TLCA# 2231
Joined
Jun 17, 2005
Threads
300
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18,030
Location
UpState Ny, Wells Me
For the experts...

do GFI outlets just go bad?

the one i have looks old...and i push in the reset and no click...push in test...no click....it does nothing.

I think theres alot on that circuit...i need to go home after work and dig into it and see whats up.

none of the breakers are tripped

out in the house is the:

1/2 bath light and outlet
master bedroom lights and one outlet near the 1/2 bath
main bath lights and fan (no outlets are in the room)
bedroom next to 1/2 bath outlets dont work
one switched kitchen light
two switched hallway lights

thanks in advance

JC
 
thanks

does it sound like there's alot on that circuit?
 
That does sound like a bit much for a single GFI. Somewhat depends on what all is plugged into the outlets - and being used at any given time. Personally, I separate outlets from lighting circuits.

GFIs do wear out over time - particularly if they are tripped often. The more they are tripped, the more they wear.
 
thanks...i think i'll start there and check to see if power is going to the gfi.

if i do have power...i'll shut off the breakers (the ones i think it might be) and replace the gfi
 
Are you sure you have power at the GFI? With the list of stuff sounds like no power to a circuit. Sometimes depending on the brand a tripped breaker from a overload condition is not easy to see tripped. With that said depending on the age of the GFI, a newer GFI will not reset without power. Normally they don't just fail without repeated tripping and resetting. I would check for power with a meter from each breaker first.
 
LandCruiserPhil said:
Are you sure you have power at the GFI? With the list of stuff sounds like no power to a circuit. Sometimes depending on the brand a tripped breaker from a overload condition is not easy to see tripped. With that said depending on the age of the GFI, a newer GFI will not reset without power. Normally they don't just fail without repeated tripping and resetting. I would check for power with a meter from each breaker first.
Click to expand...

yeah..i need to check for the power 1st (i'm at work now) when i went home i had just enough time to check a few things out...like whats out and checked each breaker.

each breaker i wiggled and pulled out and reset in and switched on/off several times.

I'll check the gfi for power and also each breaker for power as well
 
Ive seen GFCI go bad all the time. For cheap money I would just replace it. You must have a older house, newer codes only allow each bathroom to have their own circuit. It might sound like a lot on that circuit but you would have to have all the lights and stuff plugged into the outlets running something for it to be a problem. Good luck.
 
well its not the gfci

i had power to the outlet...all breakers have power...so i went and replaced with a new GFCI ...and was doing the same thing...

went and started using a 3 prong tester...the hallway outlet made the gfi trip...and if i left the 3 prong tester in my kids bedroom lights came on.

I'm at a loss


sucks that its my daugthers birthday tomorrow and kids are coming at 10 am :rolleyes:

may need to call a pro for this...a saturday call is going to suck as well :frown:
 
reevesci said:
Johnny C, give this site a quick look over, it might help.

Can't Reset a GFCI Outlet?
Click to expand...

LOL

I was on that site just 10 min ago...great site....i was checking out some of the outlets and i got power now...

one must be bad?

i should have done like the site said and went one at a time...i think i'll just change all the outlets in the affected rooms...they are all OLD...original 1960...i said a prayer...however it was not to have the power to work correctly....it was a prayer not to lose my temper and kill someone...including me :idea:

i'm a bit happier now :D
 
yes and yes

the wired thing is that the breaker that controls that gfi outlet and all the stuff that wasnt working also controled some things that werent out... 1/2 the basement lights were still lit ....they also go thru that breaker and they were still let when the stuff upstairs was out.
 
the old skool way was to land the incoming wires on one term of the recepticle, and the outgoing to the other term(each side having 2 terminals{hot and neutral}) this creates the sort of trouble you are having when one of the recepticles in the string decides to quit. The other thing I come across is when the recepticles have a hole the the wire is inserted into and is held in place by a one way spring tab. again, they prolly put the incoming hot and outgoing hot into the holes in the recepticle. once again, as the spring tab wears out(and they will) you will lose power(or nuetral) down stream. To prevent this, I take all the hot wires and splice them together under the same wirenut with an extra wire coming out of it to land on the recepticle. (do the same for the neutrals and grounds if equipped). This method leave one of each wire to land on the recepticle, and as long as your splices are good, keeps you from losing half your circuit when something goes south.....We call it pigtailing for recepticles.....HTH
 
LAMBCRUSHER said:
the old skool way was to land the incoming wires on one term of the recepticle, and the outgoing to the other term(each side having 2 terminals{hot and neutral}) this creates the sort of trouble you are having when one of the recepticles in the string decides to quit. The other thing I come across is when the recepticles have a hole the the wire is inserted into and is held in place by a one way spring tab. again, they prolly put the incoming hot and outgoing hot into the holes in the recepticle. once again, as the spring tab wears out(and they will) you will lose power(or nuetral) down stream. To prevent this, I take all the hot wires and splice them together under the same wirenut with an extra wire coming out of it to land on the recepticle. (do the same for the neutrals and grounds if equipped). This method leave one of each wire to land on the recepticle, and as long as your splices are good, keeps you from losing half your circuit when something goes south.....We call it pigtailing for recepticles.....HTH
Click to expand...

This.

I had an outlet that was on the main line that provided power for the majority of the lighting in my house. (Only outlet on that line.) When it went bad, we had no lighting. When I plugged in a tester, lighting started working again.

Run a pigtail like Lambcrusher suggests, and also replace that outlet. Don't use the spring or push in outlets either, get the ones that you screw into place.
 
I had two adjacent outside GFI outlets that haven't worked since we bought the house almost 2 years ago (new house). I finally started chasing things down and found that one GFI was wired wrong (blacks and whites swapped on in and out). I rewired it correctly and that outlet started working but the outlet that it fed wouldn't. Using a Fluke it looked like the outlet worked fine but there was no power on the "out" side of the GFI.

I started to replace the outlet but then decided to just wire the leads together (b to b and w to w) and I used short pigtails at the connection to connect to the in side of the GFI. Now both outlets are working fine. I'm chalking it up to :meh:.
 
did you happen to notice if the incoming wires going to the back of the second GFI were on the top terminals, and did you happen to land them back to the bottom terminals? There are incoming and outgoing specific terminals on these and won't power up unless they are wired correctly....also could have happened if one wire was at the top terminal and the other on the bottom. (no complete circuit)
 
LAMBCRUSHER said:
did you happen to notice if the incoming wires going to the back of the second GFI were on the top terminals, and did you happen to land them back to the bottom terminals? There are incoming and outgoing specific terminals on these and won't power up unless they are wired correctly....also could have happened if one wire was at the top terminal and the other on the bottom. (no complete circuit)
Click to expand...

Yes I know that there are in and out terminals on a GFI. Originally they had crossed the incoming and outgoing wires such that one of the incoming wires (can't remember if it was the hot or neutral) was landed on the "in" terminal and other was landed on the "out" (so as you say, there was no complete circuit). When I corrected that cross-wiring problem, there still wasn't any power (confirmed with my Fluke) on the outgoing terminals but both plugs of the GFI worked fine and of course now that I've directly wired the incoming and outgoing wires together, my other GFI has power. I'm not an expert on these matters by any means; I just found it odd that everything on a GFI could work except the "out" terminals.
 
Lambcrusher,

Can you tell me if installing a GFCI breaker is more reliable than a GFCI receptacle?

I'm getting ready to install some 20 amp circuits in the garage (one for dedicated freezer) and one for an extra just in case.

I plan on using a single 20 amp receptacle (round one) just behind the freezer so I don't have to install a GFCI circuit. House was built in 1997 so it meets city code.

Thanks in advance,
Charles
 
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