My wife was using the haridryer in our recently remodeled bathroom when
the lights, hair dryer and some outlets went off in that section of the
house. I checked the GFI outlet that the hair dryer was plugged into
and a GFI reset did nothing. I then went to check the breaker panel in
the basement and all were still in the "on" position. I found the
breaker that controls this area of the home and switched it "off", then
back "on" again. All that power was then restored.

Does this mean I have a bad breaker switch or is the GFI doing what it
supposed to do? I'm not sure if the GFI "breaks the connection but the
breaker panel switch stays on. Additionally, I'm not understanding why
the breaker was still on yet a reset of the GFI alone did not restore
the power. She continues to use the hair dryer daily in that bathroom
without further incident. Can anyone help me understand the issue, if
any?

Billy wrote:
My wife was using the haridryer in our recently remodeled bathroom when
the lights, hair dryer and some outlets went off in that section of the
house. I checked the GFI outlet that the hair dryer was plugged into
and a GFI reset did nothing. I then went to check the breaker panel in
the basement and all were still in the "on" position. I found the
breaker that controls this area of the home and switched it "off", then
back "on" again. All that power was then restored.

Does this mean I have a bad breaker switch or is the GFI doing what it
supposed to do? I'm not sure if the GFI "breaks the connection but the
breaker panel switch stays on. Additionally, I'm not understanding why
the breaker was still on yet a reset of the GFI alone did not restore
the power. She continues to use the hair dryer daily in that bathroom
without further incident. Can anyone help me understand the issue, if
any?


Most likely the breaker tripped from an over current situation, but it
did not look like it was tripped. Sometimes when breakers trip, the
handle only moves a little and unless you look very carefully, you
won't notice it. Moving it to off then back on resets it.

The GFI and breaker are two separate things.

In this case the GFI did not trip but the breaker did trip.

The GFI detects if you are being electrocuted and turns off the electricity
in a fraction of a second before the electricity can do any damage. You
would not even notice anything. If a GFI is constantly tripping when you use
a certain appliance, that appliance may be faulty and might electrocute you
if you used it in a regular outlet.

A circuit breaker will trip if there is too much electricity being used for
the circuit - too many things turned on at the same time.

If you have a breaker frequently tripping, you can have an electrician
install a new outlet on its own circuit or connect an existing outlet to its
own circuit. For example in older homes a refrigerator and the entire living
room may be on one circuit and breaker frequently trips. Have electrician
install refrigerator on its own circuit.

You can have your bathroom GFI outlet wired to its own circuit on its own
breaker. The hair dryer probably uses a lot of electricity.


"Billy" wrote in message
My wife was using the haridryer in our recently remodeled bathroom when
the lights, hair dryer and some outlets went off in that section of the
house. I checked the GFI outlet that the hair dryer was plugged into
and a GFI reset did nothing. I then went to check the breaker panel in
the basement and all were still in the "on" position. I found the
breaker that controls this area of the home and switched it "off", then
back "on" again. All that power was then restored.

Does this mean I have a bad breaker switch or is the GFI doing what it
supposed to do? I'm not sure if the GFI "breaks the connection but the
breaker panel switch stays on. Additionally, I'm not understanding why
the breaker was still on yet a reset of the GFI alone did not restore
the power. She continues to use the hair dryer daily in that bathroom
without further incident. Can anyone help me understand the issue, if
any?