How can I get my ground fault interrupter outlets to work? All three bathrooms are out.?

Question

We pressed the red button, but nothing happened.
These bathrooms are on different floors. Any ideas?

Answer 1

Have you checked the breaker panel?

Also are they all GFI receptacles or is there only one and the other two are normal receptacles but chained through the first? If this is the case the first one in the chain may need replaced.

Answer 2

So you're saying that out of the three bathrooms none of your outlet are working and I'm assuming that you have one gfi.....correct? GFI's, in this case, are a line/load type. You have your a continually hot source of power that comes in, terminates to the line side of the gfi and out of the load side of the gfi, it feeds the other bath receptacle. A lot of what has been stated prior to this is true, most of it actually, but there are so many variables. It would work to have a gfi being fed off of another gfi and so on but the national electrical code does not permit it. You could get nuisance tripping and it is, as said before, a waste of money. If all gfi's are line side gfi's then it would work just fine and it would be legal but I have a feeling that the first comment that I've stated is true. So, gfi's do need power supplied to them to test or reset and if they worked and now they don't, I'm sure that they were wired correctly. Check your breaker marked bathroom outlets or receptacles, turn that breaker off and then on. Try to reset the gfi and if after all of this, nothing is better. You have a bad gfi. It happens all the time. I once bought a box of ten and every single one of them was bad. Also, just like anything that does work for people, things get old and worn and need to be replaced. It is a life safetly precaution and definately a good thing to have near water. Hope that I helped. You can pick one up for a bout ten bucks and replace the old one with the new one. Just be sure to go slow and make sure you have the line and load, copper and silver colored screws identical. Go one wire at a time and you'll be fine. Good luck.

Answer 3

A Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter stops the power it it detects the smallest short circuit in an appliance before you can feel a shock. They have a test and reset button. Since you do not have GFCI's, in the bathroom, there still might be a breaker in your electrical breaker box that does the same function. In all cases if a GFCI trips or turns off the power, it has to be reset manually. I think the wires might be loose on the bathroom outlet so replacing the outlet correctly should solve the problem.,

Answer 4

GFCI outlets CAN NOT be in the same circuit as another GFCI. They will not function properly.

Find out which one is closest to the circuit and leave that one in place (NOT DISTANCE, BUT FIRST IN THE LOOP), replace the other two (if this is the problem) with normal outlets. These will be protected by the GFCI you have left if installed correctly.

For a temporary fix, you can find the circuit breaker that runs the loop, turn it off, reset all the GFCI outlets by pressing the "Test" and then the "Reset" buttons, turn the breaker back on. If all the GFCI outlets are good, the circuit will stay on. If one is bad, the other two will trip.

This can be a little confusing. If you have trouble, you can purchase a basic wiring guide at your local home improvement store or call an electrician that you know or a friend knows.

Good Luck!

Casey

Answer 5

You also need to press the reset button. The red button is the test, and the black button is the reset. Since you only mentioned THE red button, I take it that all three receptecles are on the same GFI circuit.

If this fails, then call in an electrician, you may have a partial short or a defective breaker. good luck.

Answer 6

Check your breaker first, your GFI wont reset if there is no power there. Are all 3 outlets in the same circuit? They can be chained together in that case the first GFI could be faulty change that out paying attention to the line and load connections. Casey is wrong you can have multiple GFI's on the smae circuit its just a waste of money, but they will work fine.

Answer 7

Press the button that says test. Then press the button that says reset. Flick the main power source off then on in the circuit box. If it still does not work, call a licensed electrician to replace it. It's a quick and painless fix.

Answer 8

I assume they worked at one time? Check your circuit breaker. As stated by another answerer, they will not reset if there is no power running to them. If the circuit breaker is not tripped I would call an electrician.

Answer 9

Check for a common breaker. Then push the reset button.

Answer 10

check to see if they are wired backwards-black to brass(black is hot)if not they wont be effective-ie will work but wont trip if there is a fault