I'm no expert, but I've done some basic electrical and I'm having
problems with a GFI in my bathroom. The GFI I had went dead (reset
didn't work, no power). I assumed the GFI was bad so I replaced it,
twice!

In all cases it still doesn't work. Hitting 'Reset' doesn't work. I
tested the wires and the black wire is indeed hot. When I plug in a
Circuit reader (with a GFI tester on it) no lights come on (this is the
model with 2 yellow and one red light). However, when I use a voltage
detector I get a hot reading when I test either side of the outlet.

The outlet has worked for the past 2 years just fine and then this
problem suddenly occured.

Any help would be appreciated.

The black wire is hot, but your neutral wire, the white, is open, so you
don't have a complete circuit. Try to find where the power is coming from
before it goes to that box and repair the loose connection


wrote in message
ups.com...
I'm no expert, but I've done some basic electrical and I'm having
problems with a GFI in my bathroom. The GFI I had went dead (reset
didn't work, no power). I assumed the GFI was bad so I replaced it,
twice!

In all cases it still doesn't work. Hitting 'Reset' doesn't work. I
tested the wires and the black wire is indeed hot. When I plug in a
Circuit reader (with a GFI tester on it) no lights come on (this is the
model with 2 yellow and one red light). However, when I use a voltage
detector I get a hot reading when I test either side of the outlet.

The outlet has worked for the past 2 years just fine and then this
problem suddenly occured.

Any help would be appreciated.

The GFI is not resetting because something in the branch it is protecting is
causing it to trip.
Unplug every possible item on the branch and try to reset again. If there
are any outlets that are outside,(patio, driveway lights etc. ) check them
out for moisture. Be sure that all outside outlets have weatherproof covers
and good sealing gaskets.

A quick test is to turn off the breaker protecting that branch and see if
reset works.

The GFI tester is telling you the truth. The voltage detector is giving you
a false positive.

Charlie



wrote in message
ups.com...
I'm no expert, but I've done some basic electrical and I'm having
problems with a GFI in my bathroom. The GFI I had went dead (reset
didn't work, no power). I assumed the GFI was bad so I replaced it,
twice!

In all cases it still doesn't work. Hitting 'Reset' doesn't work. I
tested the wires and the black wire is indeed hot. When I plug in a
Circuit reader (with a GFI tester on it) no lights come on (this is the
model with 2 yellow and one red light). However, when I use a voltage
detector I get a hot reading when I test either side of the outlet.

The outlet has worked for the past 2 years just fine and then this
problem suddenly occured.

Any help would be appreciated.

The GFI tester is telling you the truth. The voltage detector is giving you
a false positive.

Advice like this will get someone killed. He has 120 volts on the hot leg.
He's got no neutral



"Charlie Bress" wrote in message
...
The GFI is not resetting because something in the branch it is protecting
is causing it to trip.
Unplug every possible item on the branch and try to reset again. If there
are any outlets that are outside,(patio, driveway lights etc. ) check them
out for moisture. Be sure that all outside outlets have weatherproof
covers and good sealing gaskets.

A quick test is to turn off the breaker protecting that branch and see if
reset works.

The GFI tester is telling you the truth. The voltage detector is giving
you a false positive.

Charlie



wrote in message
ups.com...
I'm no expert, but I've done some basic electrical and I'm having
problems with a GFI in my bathroom. The GFI I had went dead (reset
didn't work, no power). I assumed the GFI was bad so I replaced it,
twice!

In all cases it still doesn't work. Hitting 'Reset' doesn't work. I
tested the wires and the black wire is indeed hot. When I plug in a
Circuit reader (with a GFI tester on it) no lights come on (this is the
model with 2 yellow and one red light). However, when I use a voltage
detector I get a hot reading when I test either side of the outlet.

The outlet has worked for the past 2 years just fine and then this
problem suddenly occured.

Any help would be appreciated.

wrote:
I'm no expert, but I've done some basic electrical and I'm having
problems with a GFI in my bathroom. The GFI I had went dead (reset
didn't work, no power). I assumed the GFI was bad so I replaced it,
twice!

In all cases it still doesn't work. Hitting 'Reset' doesn't work. I
tested the wires and the black wire is indeed hot. When I plug in a
Circuit reader (with a GFI tester on it) no lights come on (this is the
model with 2 yellow and one red light). However, when I use a voltage
detector I get a hot reading when I test either side of the outlet.

The outlet has worked for the past 2 years just fine and then this
problem suddenly occured.

Any help would be appreciated.

Hi,
How about getting a decent meter for crying out loud. Been working on
wiring without one? Your GFI does not lie. You have wiring problem
upstream if the outlet does not have any load down stream.
Don't get zapped!

On Tue, 6 Jun 2006 22:28:29 -0400, "RBM" rbm2(remove
wrote:

The black wire is hot, but your neutral wire, the white, is open, so you
don't have a complete circuit. Try to find where the power is coming from
before it goes to that box and repair the loose connection



I agree, I've seen this problem quite a few times.
His mistake was assuming that the original GFI was bad.

Doug

On Wed, 07 Jun 2006 02:57:07 GMT, Tony Hwang wrote:

wrote:
I'm no expert, but I've done some basic electrical and I'm having
problems with a GFI in my bathroom. The GFI I had went dead (reset
didn't work, no power). I assumed the GFI was bad so I replaced it,
twice!

In all cases it still doesn't work. Hitting 'Reset' doesn't work. I
tested the wires and the black wire is indeed hot. When I plug in a
Circuit reader (with a GFI tester on it) no lights come on (this is the
model with 2 yellow and one red light). However, when I use a voltage
detector I get a hot reading when I test either side of the outlet.

The outlet has worked for the past 2 years just fine and then this
problem suddenly occured.

Any help would be appreciated.


Also, check for downstream shorts between the Neutral and Ground.
These will trip a modern GFI in addition to current imbalance on Hot
and Neutral.

On 6 Jun 2006 19:15:58 -0700, wrote:
I'm no expert, but I've done some basic electrical and I'm having
problems with a GFI in my bathroom. The GFI I had went dead (reset
didn't work, no power). I assumed the GFI was bad so I replaced it,
twice!

In all cases it still doesn't work. Hitting 'Reset' doesn't work. I
tested the wires and the black wire is indeed hot. When I plug in a
Circuit reader (with a GFI tester on it) no lights come on (this is the
model with 2 yellow and one red light). However, when I use a voltage
detector I get a hot reading when I test either side of the outlet.

The outlet has worked for the past 2 years just fine and then this
problem suddenly occured.

Any help would be appreciated.


Um, you get a hot reading when you measure voltage between what and
what exactly?

i

On Tue, 6 Jun 2006 22:33:11 -0400, "Charlie Bress"
wrote:


The GFI tester is telling you the truth. The voltage detector is giving you
a false positive.

Well there is 120V there.

But he doesn't say that he tried to test the neutral leg. He probably
didn't try to test it, and that's why when he first posted, he didn't
know it was bad.

He said
"When I plug in a Circuit reader (with a GFI tester on it) no lights
come on (this is the model with 2 yellow and one red light)."
What do the instructions say that this means? It doesn't mean that
all is well. Are you talking about the yellow chunk prongs at one
end and 3 lights on the ohter end?



Charlie

In ,
Charlie Bress wrote:

A quick test is to turn off the breaker protecting that branch and
see if reset works.

On all GFI's I've worked with, the test and reset buttons are both
inoperative in the absence of power. The reset button will not "click in."

The GFI tester is telling you the truth. The voltage detector is
giving you a false positive.

Yes, the GFI is telling the truth. The OP has problem with the neutral
wi
"I get hot reading when I test either side of the outlet."

Shouldn't get a "hot" reading on a wire (the neutral) that is tied to ground
at the panel.
--
Jim
"Remember, an amateur built the Ark; professionals built the Titanic."

Thank you everyone I finally was able to get back to this posting and
read the feedback. I haven't had a chance to check the neutral wire,
but regarding this

On all GFI's I've worked with, the test and reset buttons are both
inoperative in the absence of power. The reset button will not "click in."

This appears to be true, the reset button does not "click in"

And yes I agree that my first mistake was assuming the original GFI was
bad. I didn't check it, but I had another GFI go bad on me recently
and it initially seemed to be the same symptoms, but lesson
learned....I need to be more thorough.

Thanks