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Joined: May 2001
Posts: 160
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Here is the situation: I was called to a customers house(upscale 2 story 9years old)to turn over a horizontal recpt(180deg)so he could plug in his hair dryer(one with the right angle plug headed in the wrong direction).It is located in the vanity/sink backsplash in a corner.His wifes vanity/sink recpt had the GFIC recpt so I figure his is on the load side of her GFIC.I plug in my GFIC recpt tester to his recpt and sure enough he has power on his recpt so I push the botton to take power off the recpt and it did but her GFIC did not trip out.All other recpt,that I can find, are working in the house except this one.The load center has 1 GFIC breaker and it is OK. I had come up on a similar problem once before and found the GFIC for the bathroom tripped out in the garage hidden by peg board.Well guess what,this customer covered one whole garage wall wth peg board and he swears that he did not cover up any recpt. Where should I look?What should I do? Just to let you know what I am dealing with here,is that her GFIC load side is wired to the two bathrooms up stairs!!!!Nice huh? Chris
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 308
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Here is my suggestion.
If the peg board is removable remove it to find any GFCI back there.
You said there is GFCI braker. Make sure you have voltage on the downstream side of that GFCI breaker.
Kitchen GFCI.
Maybe a GFCI covered with an appliance,poster,cabinet...anything.
Check for continuity at the nonpowered receptacle between Grounded(neutral) and grounding. If there is no continuity then there is a GFCI problem if there is continuity then there is loose connection of the hot conductor.
I will post if any other ideas come up
P.S. I had the same problem could not find a problem to a bathroom receptacle. Come to find out the GFCI that powers that bathroom is in the garage behind a poster. It took me 2 hours to find it. Then i had to explain to the home owner why i charged him $120 to reset a GFCI.
Good Luck Edward
Thanks Edward
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Joined: May 2001
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Edward, Thanks for the suggestions.I wonder what goes through the electricans mind(?) when they wire houses like this. Chris
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 2,233
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Chris,
On a lot of the older homes the electrical contractors would use 1 GFCI to protect all the rest in the house. (This is very true for condos and track houses.) The most common spots for GFI receptacles where, garages, basements, outside receptacles, and bathrooms. I found once the GFI was outside in the back yard. ( I couldn't hear the recpt. trip.) Most times you can hear them trip. Once I heard the GFI trip and couldn't find it. (This one was in the next room which happened to be a living room. It was behind the couch.) Once I found the GFI under a whirlpool tub. The only other way to find this receptacle is to use a tester that puts radio freq. on wires that are not energized. Sort of like a tracer tester but works on dead wires. Happy hunting.
Harold
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 914
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Did you try taking her GFCI out and check for miswired? I've found on more than one occasion a miswired GFCI that wouldn't let power out, but the outlet still worked. Is his outlet a dead end? If so it may be easier just to refeed it off hers.
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Joined: May 2001
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Thanks Harold and Electric Eagle, Yes I did remove her GFIC and it is connected properly. His is a dead end connection and yes I can run it from a closet recpt that backs up to the bathroom and change his to a GFIC. I haven't given up on the garage behind the peg board or covered up with some other stuff. I don't have an RF tracer.Maybe Santa will bring me one.If he did I bet I would never have need for it again but it would be good insurance. Chris
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 241
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Hello Chris, The tester that gives a signal on dead cables sounds like one I would be interested in. I guess it would be like an amprobe PASAR, which has been a great device to use on live ckts. If they have anything that traces with a dead circuit, I would like to know. Good luck. Sounds like a tough find.
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 402
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To trace dead wires use a data cable tracer It has batteries in both ends. I usedone once to find an open hot in box that had be covered by bead board on the ceiling in a cottage. Make sure the power is off.
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Joined: May 2001
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The continuing SAGA, I looked behind the pegboard and on all the garage walls,in the other bathrooms,in the kitchen, on the patio and side,front and back of the house,and all the other rooms in the house and still no tripped out GFCI.This house is easily 7000sqft,so it remains hidden.I haven't given up yet. Chris
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Joined: May 2001
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Is it under the jaccuzzi tub?
Donnie
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Joined: March 2005
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