NeedHelp Posted October 27, 2011 Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 I hope someone can help, receptacles have been replaced with non typical GFI you know the ones with the reset button on receptacle, There are no tripped breakers and the receptacles in both bathrooms and outside do not work, how can I find out what breaker they are tied to or test to see if its one bad receptacle. I'm not completely stupid when it comes to electrical I do have some basic knowledge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted October 27, 2011 Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 I wonder if all outdoor and bathroom receptacles are all on a single circuit? If so, a single 'open' would cause something like you've described. How big is the house? Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolan Kienitz Posted October 27, 2011 Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 They are likely not wired properly in that one GFI has to be reset before the one further down the food chain can be reset. Common on home-brew repairs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeedHelp Posted October 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 house is 1100 sf and not a home brew husband was an electrician for 18 yrs, I was pressure washing and think I got water in an outside outlet but not sure, since there is no GFCI on the receptacles that leads me to believe he replaced with a GFCI breaker however no breakers are tripped. I?m thinking a tracer won?t work or will it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted October 27, 2011 Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 House seems small enough that some would connect all bath/exterior GFCI's to a single circuit. Pull the affected GFCI that lies nearest to the breaker panel and have a look-see at all the connections. Check for voltage coming in and going out of the box. Be careful. I'm assuming that you're still a licensed electrician. Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeedHelp Posted October 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 Thank you Marc, I'm not my husband was however he has passed on. I am trying to correct myself as I have replaced receptacles before but not breakers. Is there a reason why the breaker would not be tripped. If it helps the house was build in early 80's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hausdok Posted October 27, 2011 Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 Look for a second GFCI on the circuit. Every once in a while I have a GFCI protected circuit that, when I reset the obvious GFCI, hasn't got any power. Then I look around some more and I discover, usually in the craziest place possible - in the crawlspace once - a second GFCI that tripped when I'd introduced the ground fault into the circuit. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erby Posted October 27, 2011 Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 The electrical panel breaker won't trip in your situation as the GFCI outlet trips instead. Remember that your GFCI outlet can protect downstream outlets. i.e, power goes from breaker in panel to GFCI outlet in master bath, from the master bath it goes to the hall bath, from the hall bath it goes to the outlets on the outside of the house. In this example, The only one with a reset button will be the GFCI outlet in the master bath, but NONE of the other outlets will have power until that master bath GFCI is reset. AND, if there's more than one GFCI outlet in the circuit, such as a second one in the hall bath, ALL of the GFCI reset buttons on that circuit need to be reset before you get power back. If it was working fine before, it's likely still working fine, you just have to find the GFCI outlets and ensure all of them are reset. Check all the kitchen outlets, bathroom outlets, garage outlets (look behind the refrigerator and any shelving) and exterior outlets, crawl space outlets, basement outlets, etc to see if any of them are a GFCI outlet, reset them and ensure there's power to them (plug something into them). Sometimes this can be a real hunt. I doubt you need to replace anything. You just need to find the tripped GFCI Outlet and reset it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kogel Posted October 27, 2011 Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 I had a 5 year old home yesterday, nice place. I came upon an outlet by the patio, tested it and a GFCI somewhere snapped off. The little water feature died, too. 3 hours later, I was waiting for my clients and I still hadn't found the GFCI for the outdoor receptacles. The owner and his son came home, the owner couldn't help me but the son knew there was a GFCI receptacle, under a workbench in the garage, behind a pile of storage. Yeah that was it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted October 27, 2011 Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 Kelly, you need an electrician...or a family handyman. Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erby Posted October 27, 2011 Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 C'mon Marc. An electrician or a family handyman to find and reset a tripped GFCI outlet?? - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Raymond Posted October 27, 2011 Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 Kelly, you need an electrician...or a family handyman. Marc She's obviously lived there long enough to know where all the receptacles are... Kelly, check every receptacle in every room for a GFCI and press the reset button on every one you find. Check the panel for a breaker with a reset button it and push that as well. If it still doesn't work, then follow Marc's advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kogel Posted October 27, 2011 Report Share Posted October 27, 2011 Kelly, you need an electrician...or a family handyman. Marc She's obviously lived there long enough to know where all the receptacles are... Kelly, check every receptacle in every room for a GFCI and press the reset button on every one you find. Check the panel for a breaker with a reset button it and push that as well. If it still doesn't work, then follow Marc's advice. One more thing. Sometimes a tripped breaker in the panel won't be obvious, because the handle only moves a fraction of an inch. Flip it all the way off, then on. This guy the other day didn't know where to look after 5 years in the house. Search in the vicinity of the panel for starters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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