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Last night, the outlets in our living room stopped working, along with the outlet near the kitchen sink.
I tried to press the red and black buttons (this is a GF outlet near the sink) to no avail. I looked at the circuit board and noticed one switch was in the middle (in between on and off). I turned that off and on. Voila, all the outlets started working again.
A few hours later I noticed that the outlets in our bathrooms weren't working. There are two bathrooms. Only one of the two has a GF outlet. I fiddled with that and also the circuit breakers but couldn't get them working. My manager came over and explained the red button has to be in the OUT position. (Both bathroom outlets are on the same circuit.)
I previously didn't know that. I also tried to press and hold both buttons which is wrong. If you press the black button and the red is IN, the red will pop out.
In that period when the living room power wasn't working I fiddled with the red buttons but I must have done something wrong which is why they stopped working.
We have an appliance near the kitchen sink (plugged into the GF outlet). That appliance may have caused an overload. Our AC was also on. The thing is, we use that appliance often and never had a problem before. Do you think using the AC and that, pushed it over the edge?
Maybe your area was going through a brown out and current load fell—like power outage from storm surge
It sounds like two things happened; a circuit breaker tripped in the kitchen, and the gfci tripped in the bathroom. Both around the same time? Odd. Was there a thunder storm nearby?
While code requires certain things, houses built before a requirement was added to the code do not have to be updated. Also, people change things, and don't always know what they're doing, so you can't expect an older house to be code compliant.
1. I noticed the problem with the outlets in our living room and one in the kitchen.
2. I did something to the two outlets with red buttons and it didn't help (kitchen and one bathroom).
3. I looked at the circuit board and saw the switch was in the middle. That restored power to the living room and kitchen.
4. A few hours later, I noticed the bathroom outlets weren't working.
5. Our landlady came over and pressed the black button on the bathroom outlet. Now everything was okay.
(When I did 2, I messed them up without realizing it. The red button should in the out position, not in.)
1. I noticed the problem with the outlets in our living room and one in the kitchen.
2. I did something to the two outlets with red buttons and it didn't help (kitchen and one bathroom).
3. I looked at the circuit board and saw the switch was in the middle. That restored power to the living room and kitchen.
4. A few hours later, I noticed the bathroom outlets weren't working.
5. Our landlady came over and pressed the black button on the bathroom outlet. Now everything was okay.
(When I did 2, I messed them up without realizing it. The red button should in the out position, not in.)
You need to learn more about how circuit breaker panels work, if this is in your home.
On the circuit board, one switch is labelled as Kitchen and one as Garbage Disposal. Is that what you mean by two circuits?
It's looking like GCFIs are more trouble than they are worth. Look what happened to me. I know it's for safety if you drop something into the water when it's on.
They are as much trouble as any other outlet. Any can go bad or have a connection to one loosen. When it does, everything after that outlet will lose power. I wouldn’t blame the GFI.
It's looking like GCFIs are more trouble than they are worth. Look what happened to me. I know it's for safety if you drop something into the water when it's on.
GFCI's can save your life! They are not "more trouble than they are worth." As suggested by someone above, read and learn about how to work them. One button is usually labeled "test" and the other "reset." The "test" button is to make sure it's working, pressing it causes the outlet to disconnect, and the "reset" button will pop out. Other things as have been mentioned cause the GFCI to disconnect, and the "reset" button will pop out. Pressing the "reset" button in solidly will reconnect the outlets.
GFCI's can save your life! They are not "more trouble than they are worth." As suggested by someone above, read and learn about how to work them. One button is usually labeled "test" and the other "reset." The "test" button is to make sure it's working, pressing it causes the outlet to disconnect, and the "reset" button will pop out. Other things as have been mentioned cause the GFCI to disconnect, and the "reset" button will pop out. Pressing the "reset" button in solidly will reconnect the outlets.
Yes, but they can be an unbelievable pain in the ass as well.
the thing that gets me here.. OP is stating they tripped a breaker. I've never seen a GFCI trip a breaker. Had plenty of them that died and didn't output any power.. Had even more where the GFCI portion went out and you could press the test button all you want and nothing happens, though the outlet itself and anything it feeds continues to work.. But never had one trip a breaker that I can recall.
I did run into a place once that had GFCI outlets in the bathroom AND a GFCI breaker on the same circuit. That seemed.. Begging for problems.
Yes, but they can be an unbelievable pain in the ass as well.
the thing that gets me here.. OP is stating they tripped a breaker. I've never seen a GFCI trip a breaker. Had plenty of them that died and didn't output any power.. Had even more where the GFCI portion went out and you could press the test button all you want and nothing happens, though the outlet itself and anything it feeds continues to work.. But never had one trip a breaker that I can recall.
I did run into a place once that had GFCI outlets in the bathroom AND a GFCI breaker on the same circuit. That seemed.. Begging for problems.
I do agree with that. In our home (had not been here very long) there is a nice shed built onto the back of our garage, with a GFCI breaker on the connecting wall. I plugged my electric smoker into it just to make sure the smoker was working, of course something tripped. However the GFCI socket was not tripped, but the entire circuit was out. Power was OK at the breaker box. I poked around for about an hour until I spotted another GFCI socket ON THE SAME CIRCUIT! That's the one that had tripped. Good grief!
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