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Robert Miley Posted on Jul 08, 2019

Second New GFCI shows green light but no electricity at GFCI or downstream outlets. Does not respond to "test" or "reset". Help!

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Edward Hlavacek

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  • Posted on Jul 10, 2019
Edward Hlavacek
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Please send me the GFCI brand in question and the amperage, example 15A or 20A. If you can send me a picture that would be an added bonus!
I am a 30 yr Master Electrician in Seattle https://benchmarkseattle.com/electrical-services

3 Related Answers

agent91

Ned White

  • 2100 Answers
  • Posted on Mar 14, 2010

SOURCE: I have an electrical circuit in my home that

They put the GFI in line at the front, all the other plugs run off it. One of the other plugs, has lost ground, has lost neutral, a simple plug in tester will tell you this, find the fault, or,, you have a fluorescent bulb plugged into it. The gfi's are very sensitive, they snap at the drop of the barometer.

Testimonial: "Wow. Your reply was almost instant. Thank you. I wish they would have suggested that at my local home improvement store before now!"

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Anonymous

  • 31 Answers
  • Posted on Jan 23, 2011

SOURCE: Problems with a GFCI outlet (no voltage). GFCI

if your room is powered by one breaker you need only one gfci and it has to be hooked up correctly to protect the other outlets a new gfci will have a tape tag over the out side usually the top set of nuts the water in the panel is a major fire hazard i would fix this problem first your feed to the gfci may have shorted out in the wall between the breaker and the gfci if it is wired separate from the other gfci in that room one thing you can do to save calling an electrician is go to lows home depot or any electrical store and purchase a plug in tester they are inexpensive and easy to use it will tell you if wires are hooked up correctly backwards or if you have a short somewhere in the line this is the same little gadget that an electrical inspector uses to make sure new homes are wired correctly an outlet will still work even if some wires are incorrect in the circuit the outlet tester confirms all is good and safe

roddoney

Rod Doney

  • 588 Answers
  • Posted on Apr 07, 2016

SOURCE: I have two 20A outlets in a bathroom; a GFCI and a 20A outlet, however the GFCI does not have power, but the green light is on. The downstream outlet works fine. Would the GFCI be broken somehow?

Its possible. Have you opened the box to see if the circuit downstream goesTHROUGH the gfci, or is it pig tailed? And 20 amp circuits are not generally used by home builders because 12/2w ground is used, are you sure its 20amp? Even on 20amp circuits, 15 amp sockets are normally used. Its just not a normal circuit because of costs. I would use a tester to check gfci, and pull it to make sure it was wired correctly. Bad wiring happens. I just did a check on a house who had remodel done and the electrician used 14/2w ground on a 20amp circuit and a fire started in the first box on the circuit.

Testimonial: "Thanks for the help. I pulled the GFCI today and replaced it... new one works like a champ! I'm a little let down by the manufacturer. I can't believe it died in under 12 months."

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2helpful
2answers

Can a fault in a wire upstream from a GFCI outlet cause the outlet to trip?

no GFI age,maker or model told... (some have evolved.)
as do some on other countries, NONE TOLD so, generic answers you WIN>? (gin)
no, only it and the drownstream jacks.(if wired as gfi extensions)
or if the home as a bad green wire ground sure.
call and electrician and fix it.
or test all things on the circuit 1 by one on the main GFI outlet
see what appliance trips it 1 by one, all other not connect.
easy no? IDK what you have there so , can only say simple tests.

on good circuits, ground and neutral most not go to differential volts.

some gfi can tip if 2 thing fault
if normal line current is exceed on neutral line it trip\
think water in a hand hair dryer ,oops
and some can see green wire leakage too and is not allowed./
if the energy used by the load is the same as the outlet power input
that is good , if not , it fails. (means and ******* power leaks is present and super dangerous to humans or even pets)
I like this drawing (amazing quality ) here.

https://www.westernautomation.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/GFCIs_For_AC_DC_Systems.pdf

in my USA home my 200AMP load center is huge jumpered
Neutral to earth ground and again at the curb transformer.
and my 2 deep 16ft ground stakes and one more on a huge ANTENNA.base, and all are cross tied, I take grounds serious.
so if earth ground is bad. that a first order never ignore error.
fully unsafe.
earth ground keeps my washing machine safe.as will GFI , and double safe.
also GFI breakers too are sold and even better.
the beauty of it , it trips if line leakage to human body is to neural or to earth ground (bare feet in puddle of water ) both.

is uses an Imbalance ,detector to do that, lives saved is huge.
best is as electrician to do a ground load test.
this test assures ground and neutral have tight and good bond.

gfi-undefined-undefined-0.jpg nice schematic no> super simple to see now it works.
0helpful
1answer

The gfci test button doesnt work. The green light is on but reset button doesn't work.

....When multiple GFCI outlets on the same circuit, tripping one usually trips all others. You have to start with the first GFCI closest to the breaker box and work your way down stream.....Verify all breakers are reset. Check all GFCI's everywhere you have one to see if one is tripped. If so .... Reset it. IF not ..............

It's broke ............ Call an electrician.
0helpful
1answer

How to attached a gfci plug to a 10/3 cord

I would expect that one of the screws on the plug would be green.

Normally, the white wire (neutral) connects to the silver/white screw, the black wire (hot) the the brass/copper/black screw, and the ground wire (green) to the green screw. Certain GFCI receptacles do have a second silver/white screw to provide downstream GFCI protection to additional outlets.
0helpful
1answer

I have the GFCI electical outlets in my kitchen. I have the main one and 4 more down stream. I have tried numerous times to reset the outlets. They will reset and work for about 3 minutes and trip...

You should have a licensed electrician fix it. Electricians have test equipment to locate a ground fault. Some hardware stores have a device to test the grounding of an electrical receptacle. It plugs in like any electrical device and shows red or green for good or bad.
However, if you feel adventurous, and your life insurance is paid up.
1. open the circuit breaker at the main panel.
2. Reset the GFCI to verify the power is off (nothing should trip).
3. remove one of the outlets from the circuit. They are in parallel so the wires will need to be connected to feed the downstream receptacles. Splice them carefully and insulate all bare wires. wire nuts are good for that.
4. Turn the power back on.
If the GFCI does not trip, you found the bad one.
If it does trip repeat 1 - 4 as needed.
If this process fails to identify the problem then it is a wiring problem. Consider the electrician.
2helpful
1answer

MY JETS WONT TURN ON

The threaded knob should not be related to the problem, it just controls how much air gets mixed into the water jets. One possibility is that the electricity is off. These tubs should receive power through a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) type of circuit breaker for your protection from electrical shock. Check your circuit breaker panel(s) for a breaker with a little square white or yellow "test" button. Refer to the label (if it is there) to see if it refers to "tub" or "spa" or "bath" or something like that. You may have to turn the breaker handle off (push extra hard to make it reset) and then back on again. If the breaker handle is in the "on" position and the "test" button does not "trip it off," call an electrician. If no luck there, check the bathroom for an electrical outlet with GFCI protection, again looking for white or yellow (or red) buttons - one should be engraved "test" and the other "reset" as the electrician (I hope it was an electrician) may have supplied the tub from this outlet (not actually up to code). Plug an appliance or light into the outlet. If it doesn't work, push the reset button on the outlet and test again. If working, now test the spa. If that doesn't work, test every other GFCI outlet you can find - in the kitchen, other baths, garage, outdoors, basement, etc. using the same testing procedure. If you find a GFCI breaker or outlet "tripped" that restores the tub, that indicates there is something wrong with your electrical system that could cause you to get electrocuted, and requires that you hire a qualified electrician to investigate the problem. The same is true for any GFCI outlet that does not "trip" and/or "reset." If this doesn't fix the tub, the problem may not be electrical but some other problem with the system, indicating a plumber or spa tech may need to be consulted. Note: these GFCI breakers and outlets are supposed to be tested and reset once every month. How many of us do that? Well, at least as often as we test our smoke detectors, I suppose.
May 20, 2013 • Home
0helpful
1answer

Electricity went out in 1 circuit while using my table saw w/washer going. I replaced the breaker & have 240 volts comming out of it but no electricity to receptacles or switches, So I replaced all...

In workshop areas, the NEC specifies GFCI (ground fault circuit interruptor) outlets.
If you replaced any GFCI outlets, there could be 2 possible problems:
(1) modern GFCI outlets will pass zero voltage if wired backwards (i.e. a load/feed reversal).
check the load/feed wiring of all GFCI outlets, to make sure its correct.
The feed side of the GFCI outlet is wired directly to the breaker, and the load side feeds power
to the remainder (the downstream side) of the circuit (therefore protecting the entire downstream
side of the circuit).
(2) older GFCI outlets could need to be reset if wired correctly - check the reset button(s) just to
make sure that they (and any downstream outlets) are receiving voltage.
Assuming that no GFCI outlets were part of the replacement process (or that your GFCI outlets
are correctly wired), your check for the presence of 240 VAC
should begin at the outlet/switch closest to the 240VAC double pole breaker, and proceed from there (looking for that 240VAC at each device with your 2-prong tester) along to the end
of the circuit until the problem is identified.
What this implies is that you have created (or will create) a schematic or circuit diagram of the
circuit involved - including switches, wires, and outlets (240V and 120V) - and then use that as a
resource to trace the possible sources of the problem from the breaker to the problem.
Here's the question I would want you to answer as you create your circuit diagram:
How did a 240V table saw get on the same circuit as a 120V washer and/or 120V switch(es)?
It seems like during the process of circuit tracing/diagram creation, you may find
that you're dealing with parts of more than 1 circuit, rather than just one. Check the breaker box
for any breakers that are in the "Tripped" position - and diagram those circuit(s) too.
What I would suspect is a wiring problem/mistake with the 1st device (switch or outlet) that is
supposed to feed power to the rest of the circuit, but fails to pass power on to the remainder of the circuit - or that that first device is actually wired to a second circuit with a tripped breaker.

Another thing to check is that your shop may be on its own sub-panel, with the table saw
on a 240VAC circuit, and the washer on its own 120VAC circuit. In this case, the
total curent draw may have tripped the MAIN breaker to this sub-panel in the MAIN breaker
panel (i.e. none of the breakers in the sub-panel were tripped, but the main breaker feeding the
ENTIRE sub-panel tripped, and this (double pole) breaker is located in the MAIN breaker panel).
In this case, the fix would be to reset the double pole breaker in the main panel that feeds the
shop sub-panel, bringing all the sub-panel circuits on line.

The last thing to suspect/check for is a fault in the wire itself, which is the most difficult problem to
diagnose. The fix to a bad wire would be re-fishing a new wire from the breaker box to the 1st
device box - no electrical inspector will require the removal of old wires from walls - so long as they
are not live.
What would make your life alot easier, and what helps electricians diagnose these problems so
quickly, is an electrical field tester (a.k.a. "chirper" tester), which would allow you to check
the wire as it leaves the breaker box to the point where the electrical field disappears.
At the point (point in the wire/outlet/switch) where the chirper stops chirping, you've found your
fault. At Home Depot/Lowe's/electrical supply store, a electrical field tester will set you back
about $8 to $20, depending on whether you opt for one that just lights an LED, or one that
lights and LED and also chirps.
1helpful
1answer

How do I swap a grounded electrical outlet for an ungrounded outlet in an old house?

While a lot of people have replaced a lot of 2 prong ungrounded outlets with 3 prong outlets, as you probably know, it is an unsafe practice. The National Electric Code (NEC) permitted method is to replace the 2 prong outlet with a 3 prong GFCI outlet such as this:
http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical-Outlets-Plugs-Outlets/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xg4Zbp9i/R-202026815/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

For multiple outlets, the usual practice is to install the GFCI outlet at the first outlet in the circuit, then regular 3 prong outlets can be used to replace 2 prong outlets in all the downstream outlet locations as long as the "no equipment ground" stickers that come with the GFCI outlet are used and they are now GFCI protected outlets, per NEC.

Finding the first outlet in the circuit is not always easy. First, determine which outlets are on the circuit, then starting with the outlet closest to the electric panel, disconnect the wires and see if all the other outlets went out. It's kind of trial and error.

Once you have found that first outlet in the circuit, connect the hot wires coming from the electric panel to the LINE terminals of the GFCI and the wires going to the downstream oulets to the LOAD terminals of the GFCI. Full instructions come with the GFCI outlet.
The GFCI receptacles sold today won't work if connected incorrectly, so you will soon know if you did it wrong.
Once the GFCI outlet is installed at the first outlet, all of the downstream 2 prong outlets can be replaced with 3 prong outlets, using the stickers mentioned above to indicate that the outlets are not grounded.
Strange as it sounds, all downstream outlets _must_ be ungrounded when using this method.
Aug 29, 2010 • Hammering
0helpful
1answer

I''ve gotta small issue with an electrical outlet in my kitchen. I've got a GFI that is connected with two additional outlets as would be the norm. I was having a problem with the GFI popping every once in...

GFCI receptacles are polarized and connecting them correctly is critical. The hot wire should be black, blue, red, etc. The neutral should be white or natural gray. The ground should be green (if equipped).

Also, it's common to have other receptacles in a kitchen wired "downstream" of a GFCI so that if the GFCI trips or there is an issue with another non GFCI outlet, you're still protected.

Check all outlets in the kitchen and be sure they are wired correctly and in good shape. Unplug everything while you test. If the GFCI still trips, start looking for loose neutrals or bad ground wiring (or no ground) at the other receptacles since you said you already checked the breaker box.

A coffee maker can be a cuplrit that causes a GFCI to trip since it is a heating device and uses water, which can make them more susceptible to electrical problems. Check the microwave too (if equipped).
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