Thread: Calling those with electrical knowledge...

Canada is different that the US too, but K.I.S.S. implies that if both crapped out at once then its probably one problem, not two. This is even more likely since outlets affected are in areas where they could be subject to water and therefore (at least in Canada) are supposed to be protected by a ground fault interrupter. So... assuming they are both on the same circuit, and that its a GFI circuit... there are two ways to wire up a GFI circuit... one is to have a breaker in the distribution panel that is a GFI breaker, and the second is to have a GFI outlet (the ones with the little test button and reset button on the face of the outlet) to which other outlets can also be connected, which will then protect the other outlets too.

If you don't have a breaker in the panel that looks like its a GFI breaker then maybe you have another outlet on that branch circuit somewhere that is a GFI outlet that has been tripped. (ie both the dead oultets mayu connect back to another outlet , say in another bathroom), that may be a tripped GFI outlet. So, check for other likely outlets (ie "wet areas" or outdoor/garage areas).

Another thing that may help is that you can buy a special kind of circuit tester that looks like a pen, that doesn't actully connect to any wires, but which glows if you put it beside a live wire. You hold it up to the wires coming from the AC breaker panel, and if there is a live circuit inside the wire the tester will glow. If all your breakers are on, all the wires coming out of the panel should cause the tester to light up. Similarly, if you can see the wires going to the plug in the garage, you can see if the wire feeding the outlet is live (ie the problem is inside the outet box) or whether the circuit is dead before it gets to the box (ie the problem is somehwere else) . This may point you back to the problem location without dissassembling boxes and risking shocks.

Originally Posted by JoshEarl

Is there a way to confirm whether I have a GFI circuit? None of the outlets in my house have the test/reset buttons that I normally associate with a GFI system.

Thanks,
Josh

Sometime The GFI is on your Circut Breaker look in you Breaker Box and see if they have a reset button on them. If they are just because you opened and closed the circut want reset the circut if the are GFI they have another button on them for the reset. Hope this maybe some help.

A couple of other things...

About the warm outlet in the bathroom... if the wire connection was loose, then over time the wire surface will arc from wire to screw which will oxidize the connection which makes it a high resistance connection, which produces heat, which will further deteriorate until is stops working altogether. If that's the case you would need to take the connections apart, buff up the wire with steel wool, sandpaper or similar till its nice and bright, and reinstall (with the power off!). If the heat has caused the wire insulation to get brittle and start cracking off then you have a bigger problem.

Also, drill presses typically use a lot of current (the better part of the total current that a single breaker panel circuit is able to provide) and the more current going through the circuit the faster the oxidation/deterioration mentioned above would occur on a loose or poor connection. Similarly, lot's of bathroom appliances us high current (Hairdryers, curling irons etc).

Ideally for things like shop tools and bathroom appliances you would want dedicated (seperate) circuits, as a hair dryer say in the bathroom running at the same time as the drill press would most definatly trip a breaker.


And, if you ultimatly do find that's the problem and that the bathroom oiutlet is just a typical outlet not protected by a GFI then it would be a good idea to look at putting one in

Warm outlet? I had a warm wire in my attic. After trying everything I knew to correct it, I had an electrician look at it just last week. Two days later, he had the problem taken care of. As it turns out, I had a very dangerous situation in which current was actually flowing where it shouldn't be. If you're getting heat where you shouldn't and no power, my advice is call an electirician, ASAP.

Thanks for all the input, guys. As it turns out, the consensus was right--it was a GFI issue. I have a GFI box in the other bathroom (and the shave den, no less!) that I'd forgotten about. A quick reset and the drill is running again.

I appreciate the help. I like to think that I'd have figured it out eventually...

Josh