Alan L.
Elite Member
I discovered a GFI outlet in the master bath in our new home would not work. Funny, because the green light was on but there was no power in the outlet itself.
I tried resetting the outlet and the reset button would not stay seated, thus the outlets remained in a tripped state, but the green light on. After several tries I managed to throw the circuit breaker back in the breaker box.
With the power off, I pull the cover off and checked voltage. If found that the top terminals had power but the bottom terminals had none. There were two whites & two blacks connected on the top (where the power was) and only one of each on the bottom.
Figuring it must be a bad outlet I drove 10 miles and picked up a new one, identical to the one in the wall. When I took a look at the wiring I discovered that it appeared to be wired wrong. The wires with power were connected to the "load" terminal, while the wire with no power were connected to the "line" terminal.
I carefully marked the wires connected to the "line" terminal so as not to get them mixed up. I then rewired the outlet, connected the wires with power to the "line" terminal and the wires with no power to the "load" terminals. Unfortunately at this point there was still no power in the outlet, and the green light was off. So I pulled it off and installed the new outlet the way the old one was wired with the same result - green light on, no power in the outlet.
I then decided to wire it the the way it should be wired, but this time I left off the wires with no power, so there is nothing connected to the "load" terminals. The outlet then worked, the green light is on, and the test and reset buttons work.
There are two things I noted besides the fact the outlet was apparently wired wrong:
1. The electrician left NO slack in the wires so it was very difficult to get the wires connected. In fact, to connect the load terminals I would have had to turn the outlet upside down!
2. There is at least one outlet nearby that runs off the hot terminal (so no protected by the GFI). This means there are two white wires and two black wires NOW on the line terminals (were originally on the load terminals) But one of the wires is a smaller guage than the other making it near impossible to get the screw clamped down on both wires. Once it tightens on the fat wire, the skinnier wire kept slipping out until I got a BIG screwdriver and put alot of force on it to compress the copper of the fatter wire.
Now, I know I have disconnected the wires that go downstream that are supposed to be protected. I'm sure these wires have never had any power, and this outlet has never been tried before today. But even with these wires disconnefted we can't find anything that doesn't work!
Is there any explanation for the way this thing was wired. I read somewhere that electricians sometimes wire these things backwards for a reason, but it wasn't working and now it is.
I tried resetting the outlet and the reset button would not stay seated, thus the outlets remained in a tripped state, but the green light on. After several tries I managed to throw the circuit breaker back in the breaker box.
With the power off, I pull the cover off and checked voltage. If found that the top terminals had power but the bottom terminals had none. There were two whites & two blacks connected on the top (where the power was) and only one of each on the bottom.
Figuring it must be a bad outlet I drove 10 miles and picked up a new one, identical to the one in the wall. When I took a look at the wiring I discovered that it appeared to be wired wrong. The wires with power were connected to the "load" terminal, while the wire with no power were connected to the "line" terminal.
I carefully marked the wires connected to the "line" terminal so as not to get them mixed up. I then rewired the outlet, connected the wires with power to the "line" terminal and the wires with no power to the "load" terminals. Unfortunately at this point there was still no power in the outlet, and the green light was off. So I pulled it off and installed the new outlet the way the old one was wired with the same result - green light on, no power in the outlet.
I then decided to wire it the the way it should be wired, but this time I left off the wires with no power, so there is nothing connected to the "load" terminals. The outlet then worked, the green light is on, and the test and reset buttons work.
There are two things I noted besides the fact the outlet was apparently wired wrong:
1. The electrician left NO slack in the wires so it was very difficult to get the wires connected. In fact, to connect the load terminals I would have had to turn the outlet upside down!
2. There is at least one outlet nearby that runs off the hot terminal (so no protected by the GFI). This means there are two white wires and two black wires NOW on the line terminals (were originally on the load terminals) But one of the wires is a smaller guage than the other making it near impossible to get the screw clamped down on both wires. Once it tightens on the fat wire, the skinnier wire kept slipping out until I got a BIG screwdriver and put alot of force on it to compress the copper of the fatter wire.
Now, I know I have disconnected the wires that go downstream that are supposed to be protected. I'm sure these wires have never had any power, and this outlet has never been tried before today. But even with these wires disconnefted we can't find anything that doesn't work!
Is there any explanation for the way this thing was wired. I read somewhere that electricians sometimes wire these things backwards for a reason, but it wasn't working and now it is.