fecund grasswire primitive's electrical outlet goes dead

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1158563

Oh my.

grasswire (32,942 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

what does it mean when an outlet goes dead?

Suddenly, my bathroom's double plug outlet stopped working. The lights work, the wall heater works. But the plug-in outlet doesn't. How does this happen?

NMDemDist2 (48,023 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

1. is it a GFI? maybe it just tripped (or the one 'upstream' tripped)

hlthe2b (39,117 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

3. Some electricians are doing some bizarre wiring things to save $$ vis-a-vis gfci outlets...

I had this happen in my upstairs bathroom, yet there was no "reset" button on the outlet and I believed the previous residents when they said it had been working fine. FOrtunately before I got an electrician in, a neighbor pointed out that the gfci outlet might actually be in the downstairs bathroom and I would need to reset it there for the upstairs outlet to work..

I know I looked at them like they were crazy, but sure enough, they were right. So, to the OP, I recommend finding out if this or another outlet might be on the same circuit and which one is fitted with a reset button on its outlet.

Robb (34,245 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

6. I had a porch light on a house like that once.

In a heavy rain it'd sometimes go out. I'd go down to the basement, where, on the ceiling, there was a GFCI plug with the little red button. Once pushed, I had light again.

Hassin Bin Sober (5,224 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

7. It's kosher to load an additional non-gfci outlet off the gfci ....

....if the non-gfci is within, IIRC, 6 feet. I'm pretty sure the additional outlet should be on the same floor and maybe even in the same room. The logic in the code requirements is the gfci should be easily accesable to test monthly. Not that anyone really tests them monthly like they should.

ret5hd (9,256 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

4. it's gfci...ground fault circuit interrupt.

not quibbling nor acronym-nazi-ing, just informing.

cbayer (103,656 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

2. Does it have a circuit breaker on it (small red button usually).

A lot of bathroom outlets have these.

If not, I would turn off the juice to the area and remove it. It might just have a loose wire or it may need to be replaced. It's pretty easy to do this.

grasswire (32,942 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

8. problem solved

Yes, indeed, there is another outlet with a red button in the next room. All is well now. Thanks for the input everyone!

NMDemDist2 (48,023 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

9. YAY!

isn't it nice to have a no cost fix and to learn a bit about the house in the process?

[Karin]

It means it's done.  Stick a fork in it. 

[GOBUCKS]

It means it's done.  Stick a fork in it. 

I cannot believe that poor, addled DUmmy grasswire would  go to the DUmp with a question like this.

She should already have a union electrician on the way.

Actually, I know the real purpose of her question.

Poor, addled grasswire is bragging to the DUmp that she now has a bathroom.

After three or four years squatting in a former friend's bonus room, that half-bath in the back of the abandoned bodega seems like luxury.

She doesn't have to go down into the house and disturb her former friends to use the downstairs bathroom.

It's not a farmette, but at least she now has a flush toilet.

[BEG]

grasswire (32,942 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

8. problem solved

Yes, indeed, there is another outlet with a red button in the next room. All is well now. Thanks for the input everyone!

You are such an idiot.

[jukin]

Amazing how smart the DUches think they are and want to run everything while having so little real knowledge.

I'm putting it down to just 4 days if the rest of the citizenry decides to stop taking care of their worthless asses.

[miskie]

I'm just trying to understand why GFCI outlets would be wired this way in the first place.  The only logical answer I can come up with is that primitives hire primitive laborers to build and repair things for them.

[zeitgeist]

Amazing how smart the DUches think they are and want to run everything while having so little real knowledge.

I'm putting it down to just 4 days if the rest of the citizenry decides to stop taking care of their worthless asses.

I've always laid it to book smarts and application.  Being able to recite the works, the colors, and, brush strokes of the great masters is one thing. Being able to paint like one is another. DUmmies have spent years filling their heads with what is really useless knowledge.  Knowledge without wisdom, or, the ability to practically apply it is useless knowledge.  Pseudo intellectuals are abound at the DUmp.  The majority would need to debate then obtain consensus on how best to poor piss out of a boot even with the directions clearly written upon its bottom.

[I_B_Perky]

Here dummie... I will help you out.

First thing you do, is take the outlet cover off. That is the screw in the middle of the cover. Then you take the outlet out, screw on top and bottom. Then you touch the black and white wire where it goes into the outlet and do it at the same time now. If nothing happens, then it is the breaker. Go to the panel... that is the breaker box for you dummies.  Take the cover off the panel to look at the inside of it. Now there will be some really big shiny wires coming in at either the top or bottom of the box and a bare copper wire probably on the bottom of the box to the left or right somewhere. Grab a hold of the bare copper wire first, that is important, and then reach up with other hand and grab the big wires, making sure you touch the exposed parts.

That will fix your problem. You will never have to worry about the outlet again. I promise!

[USA4ME]

Wow, a whole thread about a reset button.

grasswire  = 

.

[diesel driver]

Here dummie... I will help you out.

First thing you do, is take the outlet cover off. That is the screw in the middle of the cover. Then you take the outlet out, screw on top and bottom. Then you touch the black and white wire where it goes into the outlet and do it at the same time now. If nothing happens, then it is the breaker. Go to the panel... that is the breaker box for you dummies.  Take the cover off the panel to look at the inside of it. Now there will be some really big shiny wires coming in at either the top or bottom of the box and a bare copper wire probably on the bottom of the box to the left or right somewhere. Grab a hold of the bare copper wire first, that is important, and then reach up with other hand and grab the big wires, making sure you touch the exposed parts.

That will fix your problem. You will never have to worry about the outlet again. I promise!

^5 for that one, Perky!

[Vagabond]

I'm just trying to understand why GFCI outlets would be wired this way in the first place.  The only logical answer I can come up with is that primitives hire primitive laborers to build and repair things for them.

I don't know, but I have some wierd wiring in my house that certainly doesn't match code.  All of it is the original install except for the stuff I have corrected.  I had all the GFCI outlets upstairs and outside wired in line through one GFCI outlet just outside the panel in the basement.  It was a pain to fix that.

[Freeper]

It means it's done.  Stick a fork in it. 

Also make sure to be standing in a puddle of water. 

Actually, if it is tripped you could stick a fork in it and nothing will happen, though I would never do that.

[BattleHymn]

Grasswire,

The next time this trouble happens, you need to head straight to the fuse box, find the main lines coming in off of your weatherhead, and stab them a few times with a pickle fork.  A plain old dinner fork would melt way too quickly, causing you to lose connection, and jeopardizing the repair. 

[I_B_Perky]

^5 for that one, Perky!

Now ya gotta admit that my solution is a lot cheaper than them going on disability over a dead outlet.   

[NHSparky]

And they wonder why I laugh at them.

And no, code will allow you to have a non-GFCI outlet downstream of a GFCI one, provided you don't overload the circuit, and no, going from a 15-amp to a 20-amp breaker is NOT the right answer.

But woe be unto the asshole who tries to put a non-GFCI outlet outside or within 3 feet of a water source.

[AllosaursRus]

hlthe2b (39,117 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

3. Some electricians are doing some bizarre wiring things to save $$ vis-a-vis gfci outlets...

I had this happen in my upstairs bathroom, yet there was no "reset" button on the outlet and I believed the previous residents when they said it had been working fine. FOrtunately before I got an electrician in, a neighbor pointed out that the gfci outlet might actually be in the downstairs bathroom and I would need to reset it there for the upstairs outlet to work..

I know I looked at them like they were crazy, but sure enough, they were right. So, to the OP, I recommend finding out if this or another outlet might be on the same circuit and which one is fitted with a reset button on its outlet.

Some people are just to stooooopid to live!

All bathrooms since around '72 have to be GFI. (Ground Fault Interuper). Guess what moron, if there's not a reset on the plug itself, it's in the ****in' main panel!

[NHSparky]

Some people are just to stooooopid to live!

All bathrooms since around '72 have to be GFI. (Ground Fault Interuper). Guess what moron, if there's not a reset on the plug itself, it's in the ****in' main panel!

Shhhh...don't tell him that.  He's the type of guy who would put pennies in the fuse panel or a bullet in his car fuse box.

[franksolich]

grasswire (32,969 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

14. good advice

And pretty much my motto. Don't mess with what can kill ya. This apartment is architect-designed and well finished; the remodel was done by his sons within the last ten years. I've noticed a few other glitches. But nothing involving electricity.

[miskie]

Some people are just to stooooopid to live!

All bathrooms since around '72 have to be GFI. (Ground Fault Interuper). Guess what moron, if there's not a reset on the plug itself, it's in the ****in' main panel!

GFCI has also been required in kitchens 6 Ft from the sink since the mid 80's, and then amended to all counter-top plugs since the mid 90's.

[NHSparky]

GFCI has also been required in kitchens 6 Ft from the sink since the mid 80's, and then amended to all counter-top plugs since the mid 90's.

True dat.

http://ecmweb.com/nec/code-basics/electric_code_basics_3/

Although, as I stated earlier, even if it APPEARS that something isn't GFCI, it may be in series with an outlet which is, and that's perfectly legal.

And I double-checked the NEC, so yeah, it's been six feet, then all, for quite some time.  Damn old code.  Teach me to go from memory and say three feet.

These are the locations in and around the home when GFCIs were first required:
1968 - Swimming Pool Underwater Lighting
1971 - Receptacles Near Swimming Pools
1973 - Outdoor Receptacles
1975 - Bathroom Receptacles
1978 - Garage Receptacles
1981 - Whirlpools and Tubs
1987 - Receptacles Near Kitchen Sinks
1990 - Receptacles in Unfinished Basements and Crawl Spaces
1993 - Receptacles Near Wet Bar Sinks
1996 - All Kitchen Counter-Top Receptacles
2005 - Receptacles Near Laundry and Utility Sinks

[GOBUCKS]

grasswire (32,969 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

14. good advice

And pretty much my motto. Don't mess with what can kill ya. This apartment is architect-designed and well finished; the remodel was done by his sons within the last ten years. I've noticed a few other glitches. But nothing involving electricity.

Hilarious! Poor, addled grasswire Judy is perhaps the easiest of all DUmpmonkeys to translate. The purpose of her OP, as we noted earlier, was to brag to the DUmp that she now has a toilet.

She's moved out of her former friend's bonus room after three years, and into the abandoned bodega that spawned her nitwit scheme for a non-profit pie shop, with free eats for government and union drones.

But, of course, poor, addled Judy lurks here day and night, and she's furious that we're laughing about her living in that condemned bodega. So this post is intended to make her fellow DUmpmonkeys believe that she lives in an actual apartment.

Sorry, Judy, we learned long ago that DUmmies lie, all the time and every time. Suffice it to say.

[franksolich]

I'm confused with her comment about her apartment building being "architecturally designed."

Uh, I suspect all buildings, no matter their nature, have an architect somewhere in the process.

I suppose I could say my car is "mechanically made."

Or something like that.

[miskie]

And I double-checked the NEC, so yeah, it's been six feet, then all, for quite some time.  Damn old code.  Teach me to go from memory and say three feet.

I just find it easier to ask one question - 'is the outlet in a place where it might get wet?' any 'Yes' answer requires GFCI.