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Hi all,
I have a GFCI outlet in the garage, the same circuit runs into the basement and I have installed some ceiling lights and there are a few outlets on that circuit (existing, I recently purchased the house).
The issue (has happened twice now) is that the GFCI has a solid red light and the basement part of the circuit is not working (no power), but the main level part of the same circuit (some lights, garage opener etc) works fine.
If I reset the GFCI outlet, then the main circuit breaker starts to trip and never comes on (short ??) and then entire circuit is out of power (both main level and basement).
I had called in an electrician last time and he just replaced the faulty GFCI outlet (a week ago) - I'm thinking its not the GFCI, thats the issue - they said they will have to dig out some circuits and figure out (more $$$) whats wrong.
It sounds like the wiring is not correctly differentiated between the line and load terminals of the GFCI. Which it may not have to be; GFCI outlets typically draw from un-protected room circuits and either have no downstream protected outlets or feed them in a separate string from the load terminals.
It sounds like someone didn't follow a rigid plan in wiring this setup. Whether it's unsafe as to protection, unsafe as to bad wiring practices, or just operating pretty much as it's supposed to is not possible to determine so far.
You're going to need to map the wiring to and from the socket as a start.
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