On Sat, 05 May 2007 20:08:41 GMT, "Marcy" graced
this newsgroup with:

My bathroom has two outlets and neither work. One is the kind that has to be
reset if there's a short circuit. If I push the test button on that one it
should stay in and a red light should come on until I reset it with the
other button. The other outlets in the house work like that. But this one -
the test doesn't stay in and the light doesn't come on. A breaker for this
bathroom (in the box in the garage) won't stay on. I don't see any loose
connections when I look at these outlets. I have no money for an
electrician - what can I look at?
Thanks,
Marcy



Marcy,

There's usually a few things that can be wrong:

1. Your GFI outlet (the one with the built in breaker), is bad and is
shorting out, thus tripping the breaker.

2. The breaker switch at the breaker box is bad and keeps tripping,
or:

3. There's another outlet that is connected to the same circuit
that has something either wrong with it or has something plugged
into it that is drawing too much current.

I don't personally know of any GFI switch that glows red when it's
*not tripped*. Usually, they're set up so that the red light comes on
*when* it's tripped.

Secondly, some homes have any exterior (like out in your patio),
outlets connected on the same circuit as your bathroom GFI switch.

Do you have anything outside that's plugged into an outside outlet?