Check your GFCI’s?
It’s finally above 50 degrees here in the Queen city, and it’s a beautiful sunny Sunday, so I yanked the slush mats out of DW’s Jeep, hosed them off & set them in the sun to dry.
Hauled the shop vac out, plugged into the driveway outlet (it’s downstream of a basement GFCI), fired it up….and it dies. Back down to the basement to reset the GFCI—doesn’t seem to be tripped, doesn’t re-set. Look at it for a while, decide I’m burning daylight, grab an extension cord, go to pug it into the GFCI in the garage. Decide to test THAT GFCI—the Test button doesn’t trip it. But it’s hot, so I vacuum out the Jeep, while pondering what’s up with the two GFCI’s.
So, do you test YOUR GFCI’s every month, like the label says? On the face of it, I have two “Failed” ones, one of which is still hot, and the other, not. Does that make sense (that both won’t trip-test, but one is still hot?–BTW, I checked the panel….nothing tripped)?
And, if the one in the basement really is dead, am I going to have to change it out “hot”? The panel’s not labeled, so short of shorting the feeds or turning off the whole house, and lacking a circuit tracer with test leads, I don’t think I have much choice.
Replies
The new ones have a failsafe system that they will trip if you push the test button without without power. And they can't reset without power.
And they can't reset if they have failed.
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
So, they can fail two ways, then? One won't trip, but has power, one won't trip, but is dead?
Either way, guess I'll be replacing them.....with the new improved ones.....
If you test the GFCI by pushing the "test" button and then try to reset it by pushing the "reset" button, it might not reset. Then you are stuck. I suppose 1% of households get their GFCIs tested.
There are certain dangers in a live panel. If you can shut the whole house down, then do so. If you have the replacement handy, the swap should only take a few minutes. You should have a UPS for your computer. Your VCR will lose its' time setting and you will not have the manual, so it will blink --|-- forever from now on. But that's a small price to pay for safety.
Do not short the feeder wires. The power company's cables are not fused. It will blow up your shorting wire. If you use battery jump start cables, take pictures.
~Peter
I am combining Trigonometry with Chemistry. The idea is to replace the Sulfur in "cosine" with Calcium.
Heavens!!! Not talking about shorting the service cable, just the feeds to the GFCI, so it trips the breaker. Certainly not the approved method, but it wouldn't be the first time it's been done....
You should be able to pull the receptacle out and put a circuit tester on either the screws or the wires to test it for being hot, unless it is throughly wrapped with tape. Then have someone flip breakers until you find the right one. If the panel is too far away, use cell phones with headphones, so you can talk hands free.