Tom’s Handy Adventure, the GFCI saga

If you want to be seen as a good photographer, only show your good photographs. 

The same advice applies to becoming handy, show your finished work, don’t reveal how you got it done. For example, I was challenged with the problem of three non-functioning (no power) wall outlets in a master bathroom for the past two months.

Let’s go through the steps

• Confirm – Plugged in a razor charger to all three outlets and indeed there was no power. 
• Analyze – Ah, the bathroom has one GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) and two regular outlets. The GFCI with two buttons, test and reset, is mandated by electrical code to keep us from electrocuting ourselves should the plugged item touch water. It can stop electrical flow instantly. The regular outlets are daisy-chained to the first so all three are protected. Since all three outlets failed, the problem was in the GFCI.
• Fix – Easy, one minute fix, push the reset button on the GFCI and walk away a hero.
• Not so fast – Nuts, nothing happened. Tested each GFCI socket with a voltmeter. Hmmm, 70 volts instead of the usual 110. What the heck would cause that?!!! Better not work on this without turning the breaker off. Tested other outlets in the house and they were all 110 so the house electrical system (as assumed) was working fine. 
• Google is your friend – Found out GFCI outlets have an estimated life span of 10 years and the house is more than 20 years old. Didn’t know that. Perhaps a surge, lightning strike, or house gremlin altered the GFCI electronics. I guess the lower voltage is a clue.
• Home Depot – Bought a replacement GFCI ($15) and low voltage Klein tester ($29, the regular one detects normal voltage only). Yeah, I have my voltmeter too, but electricity makes me nervous so two testers that confirm each other is best. A regular Klein tester would have missed the 70 volts.
• Quick and easy – Turned off the circuit breaker, tested for power, pulled the old one out, and replaced it with the new one. Five wires, a green ground and two white (neutral) and two black (hot). Kept the pairs together.  
• All wired up …. nothing
• Read the directions – Yeah, that would probably be a good idea. One white/black wire pair brings electricity into the outlet and the second pair carries it out to the other two outlets. So, I guess the “line” pair carries the current down the line to the other outlets and the “load” pair brings in a load of electricity to the outlet. 
• Rewire … nothing
• Read the directions – Oh, the “line” pair brings current into the outlet and the “load” pair is the following load on the circuit. Silly me.
• Rewire … nothing. What the heck?
• Test the wires – Unwire and test the pairs. Turns out the white of the second pair is matched to the black of the first pair. How did that happen? Looked at the old outlet. The original pairs were matched on the sides, one pair on one side and the second pair on the other side. The new outlet is matched top and bottom, so I was cross wiring. When you assume, it makes an ……
• Rewire … nothing. I guess steam really can’t come out of my ears, but it felt like it. 
• Read the directions – The outlet is shipped turned off and you can’t “Reset” it until properly wired and powered. Good safety feature (especially for idiots like me). Must need to reset it. 
• Push the reset button … nothing. Push again, and again, and again … nothing.  Arrrrrgh was not my word or even close. 
• Read the directions – You need to push very hard, and deeply to reset it so I used a screwdriver and it worked!
• Screw outlet into the box – Ok, turn the breaker off, screw into the junction box, and I’m done!
• Not so fast – Hmmm, the little rabbit ears on the outlet are too big to fit in the space. Looked at the old outlet. Yep, the previous electrician broke them off to get it to fit (they are made to be twisted off). Broke the ears and the outlet fits but now it won’t tighten against the sheetrock properly as it needs the ears!
• Store Trip – Went to Lowe’s as it was closer but they had only beige and I needed white. Grumble, more driving. Went to Home Depot and learned that I had bought the last one of that model. (Come on, give me a break, it was on an upper shelf in a box so I couldn’t see them!) Bought a similar outlet ($20) and some metal files ($7) to file the ears a little bit. 
• Wired – Finally back, rewired, filed down, shoved in the hole, screwed in, and it works!

So the lesson learned is, show the finished work, not the effort.

Despite three hours time, two store trips, $72, dozens of trips back and forth to the circuit breaker, repeated wiring flubs, failure to read directions, failure to look closely at the original outlet wiring, and a lot of education, I only said, “It’s fixed!”