I went out to my screened- in porch to have lunch. This is in sw fl and we
finally got some really decent weather.

The problem: First problem was the ceiling fan w/remote wouldn't come on.
Another fan plugged into a wall socket was also dead.
There is one GFI that feeds one outside outlet and one inside and that
ceiling fan.

I plugged a 3-light tester into the GFI. the lights report an open neutral.
With the downstream hot line off the GFI the tester reports all good.

I removed anything in the downstream outlets and the GFI say OK.
If I take a little neon bug light and go from hot in to neut or ground get
good light in both tests.
Put the downstream line back on and the bug light does some thing strange.
If I go from incoming H to N it is bright. From downstream hot to neutral
the bug light is dim and the 3 light tester shows a dim light that was not
lit before.

The only things connected are the two downstream receptacles and the ceiling
fan.

Is this situation pointing to the GFI? I thought it only disconnected the
hot side. My other choice is to go after the remote in the ceiling fan but
that is a pita compared to swapping out the GFI. No spares on hand so it
means a trip to the store.

What do you say?

Charlie

"Charlie" wrote in message
...
I went out to my screened- in porch to have lunch. This is in sw fl and we
finally got some really decent weather.

The problem: First problem was the ceiling fan w/remote wouldn't come
on. Another fan plugged into a wall socket was also dead.
There is one GFI that feeds one outside outlet and one inside and that
ceiling fan.

I plugged a 3-light tester into the GFI. the lights report an open
neutral. With the downstream hot line off the GFI the tester reports all
good.

I removed anything in the downstream outlets and the GFI say OK.
If I take a little neon bug light and go from hot in to neut or ground
get good light in both tests.
Put the downstream line back on and the bug light does some thing strange.
If I go from incoming H to N it is bright. From downstream hot to neutral
the bug light is dim and the 3 light tester shows a dim light that was not
lit before.

The only things connected are the two downstream receptacles and the
ceiling fan.

Is this situation pointing to the GFI? I thought it only disconnected the
hot side. My other choice is to go after the remote in the ceiling fan but
that is a pita compared to swapping out the GFI. No spares on hand so it
means a trip to the store.

What do you say?

Charlie


For a problem that just appeared with no other actions going on around the
house I would suspect the GFI or the fan remote. Twenty minutes tops to
switch out the GFI. These things just go flakey when the die without
warning. I must have gotten a bad batch about 5 years ago as I had to
replace three in the same house at almost the same time. I have others that
are 15 years old and going strong.

You could also remove the GFI and carefully jumper the connections then use
an outlet test on the downstream part.

Checking all the physical connections might be a good plan.


--
Colbyt
Please come visit http://www.househomerepair.com

On Tue, 5 Oct 2010 15:47:29 -0400, "Charlie"
wrote:

I went out to my screened- in porch to have lunch. This is in sw fl and we
finally got some really decent weather.

The problem: First problem was the ceiling fan w/remote wouldn't come on.
Another fan plugged into a wall socket was also dead.
There is one GFI that feeds one outside outlet and one inside and that
ceiling fan.

I plugged a 3-light tester into the GFI. the lights report an open neutral.
With the downstream hot line off the GFI the tester reports all good.

I removed anything in the downstream outlets and the GFI say OK.
If I take a little neon bug light and go from hot in to neut or ground get
good light in both tests.
Put the downstream line back on and the bug light does some thing strange.
If I go from incoming H to N it is bright. From downstream hot to neutral
the bug light is dim and the 3 light tester shows a dim light that was not
lit before.

The only things connected are the two downstream receptacles and the ceiling
fan.

Is this situation pointing to the GFI? I thought it only disconnected the
hot side. My other choice is to go after the remote in the ceiling fan but
that is a pita compared to swapping out the GFI. No spares on hand so it
means a trip to the store.

What do you say?

Charlie

+
Take the GFI out of the circuit and wire the downstream directly, then
test.

wrote in message
...
On Tue, 5 Oct 2010 15:47:29 -0400, "Charlie"
wrote:

I went out to my screened- in porch to have lunch. This is in sw fl and we
finally got some really decent weather.

The problem: First problem was the ceiling fan w/remote wouldn't come
on.
Another fan plugged into a wall socket was also dead.
There is one GFI that feeds one outside outlet and one inside and that
ceiling fan.

I plugged a 3-light tester into the GFI. the lights report an open
neutral.
With the downstream hot line off the GFI the tester reports all good.

I removed anything in the downstream outlets and the GFI say OK.
If I take a little neon bug light and go from hot in to neut or ground
get
good light in both tests.
Put the downstream line back on and the bug light does some thing
strange.
If I go from incoming H to N it is bright. From downstream hot to neutral
the bug light is dim and the 3 light tester shows a dim light that was not
lit before.

The only things connected are the two downstream receptacles and the
ceiling
fan.

Is this situation pointing to the GFI? I thought it only disconnected the
hot side. My other choice is to go after the remote in the ceiling fan but
that is a pita compared to swapping out the GFI. No spares on hand so it
means a trip to the store.

What do you say?

Charlie


Trip and reset the GFCI several times. It may just start working.
The relay opens both sides and the neutral side may not be making.
Where in SW Fl?

I'm in Sarasota County between Venice and North Port.

If the GFI is intermittent like that it will be replaced anyway.

Charlie