So we recommend checking around the house for other GFCI-receptacles that may be tripped and resetting them to see if they reactivate the problem receptacle.Īnother defect that could cause a GFCI to not reset is simpler: it has gone bad and needs to be replaced. The push button at the new GFCI-receptacle is hard to push-because it hasn’t popped out. The original GFCI-receptacle at another location in the home has tripped and, as a result, the new GFCI will not reset the circuit. When a ground fault or other circuit problem occurs, the circuit goes dead but the new GFCI actually has not tripped. The new GFCIs looked good, but were redundant.

Knowing that GFCIs are now standard for bathrooms, many homeowners installed GFCI-receptacles as part of their remodeling, not realizing that a remote GFCI-device was already protecting the receptacle.

When homeowners remodeled their bathrooms with new tile and glamour fixtures they also did their own plumbing and electrical wiring. That single GFCI would protect the exterior receptacles, along with other garage and bathroom receptacles around the home.įast-forward to the HGTV, do-it-yourself, designed-to-sell recent boom years.

A ground-fault created anywhere in the circuit would trip the one GFCI-receptacle, which was typically located in the garage or hall bathroom. During the 1980s thru the mid-1990s GFCI-receptacles were more expensive than they are today, and home builders relied on the principle that a GFCI-receptacle placed as the first one in a string of receptacles around a home would protect all the receptacles downstream. The most likely reason is that the receptacle is incorrectly wired.

Dont push the red button gif