The other house thread reminded me to ask. I currently live in a home that was built in 1990. Last night we had rainy weather. I assume we may have had a quick powerspike but I am not sure. However, we had a GFCI outlet in the master bathroom tripped. When resetting the master bath outlet, the downstairs 1/2 bath GFCI outlet tripped. Neither tripped the GFCI outlet in the kitchen. Last night after trying to figure it out I eventually gave up. I have the masterbath and kitchen GFCIs still working. The 1/2 bath GFCI outlet is currently not working. I can't seem to get the 1/2 bath to reset without tripping the masterbath one, and vice versa.
Help!
Start out by unplugging everything on those circuits and turning out all lights. Then see if the things will reset.
I did that last night. Unless there is some circuit I don't know about. I had almost every light off last night. The master bath lights and the outlet are on the same circuit. When the outlet trips the lights go with it. There is also a garage outlet tied into the one in the 1/2 bath. That garage outlet is also still out.
(PS I know all this is happening because we are listing the house for sale this week. Typical for something to start up when you are trying to sell.)
Everything is unplugged in the garage too, right?
Two possibilities that I see (being an amateur hose electrician): 1. Those GFI plugs do go bad. I've had it happen. 2. Something is grounding out in your system. If EVERYTHING is disconnected and it's still tripping, then you may have had water get into something and that's grounding you out.
klb67
New Reader
11/18/13 11:25 a.m.
Is there an outside plug on the same circuit? That would be my guess.
klb67 wrote:
Is there an outside plug on the same circuit? That would be my guess.
This. I discovered in my last house that the outlet on the back porch was on the same GFI breaker as the master bath.
Outside plug is a GFCI as well? Not sure. I will have to check tonight.
Did I tell you guys that I hate electricity? Like all of it.
My understanding is you shouldn't have more than one gfci receptical on the same branch of a circuit. Are they on the same circuit?
I am voting for bad GFCI or GFCI'S. Did rainy weather include an electrical storm? If id did that sounds about right..
However...
Try shutting off the breaker at the panel, then reset each offending GFCI individually.
After resetting it turn the breaker back on.
If the GFCI trips, it has likely (but not necessarily gone bad). There still could be other problems downstream from the GFCI, such as vent fan got wet thru the vent pipe.
If the GFCI trips after doing this, shut the breaker off again. Then temporarily connect a regular outlet to the circuit. (when I say temporarily I mean just long enough to test the circuit). If it works It is likely the GFCI..
If it doesn't work and the breaker trips instead of the GFCI. the problem is likely a bad breaker. (Likely but not necessarily)
You may be asking at this point. Why isn't the breaker tripping if it is bad?? The GFCI may be detecting something the breaker isn't.
Breakers do have a lifespan. 20+ years is a good lifespan for a breaker.. Although many last much longer..
If you see some sort of goo coming from the bottom of the breaker panel. you may have a bad breaker, or breakers....
it doesnt hurt anything, afaik, but its pointless for more than one to be on the same circuit.
if the circuit is wired correctly, then one GFI will be able to catch a ground-fault anywhere on that circuit.
but even that doesnt make sense because if you don't know the wiring topology, combined with the specs of the 2 GFIs, there's no way to know which one trips first. ;p
