I work as an electrician, and I get allot of calls about GFCI outlets. They are fairly easy to trouble shoot, and replace.
Lets start with the trouble shooting.
If you have nothing plugged into your GFI outlet and its tripped meaning the red button is popped out. Push the red button back in and see if it will stay reset. If you cannot push the red button in at all or it will not reset chances are the GFI is bad and needs to be replaced.
If you have something plugged into the GFI and it is tripped I.E.(electrical cords for landscaping lights, Christmas lights, vacuum cleaners,lawn equipment)
If something is plugged into the outlet and its tripped take the cord plug out of the GFI and try to reset it. If this works then you have a short in the cord you are plugging into the GFI.
If you remove the cord and the GFI will not reset the more thank likely the GFI is bad and needs to be replaced.
Here are a few things to consider. You need to make sure when you have something plugged into a GFI outlet outside you need a good “in use” cover;.
The cover needs to be closed the whole way and have no gaps. If water gets into the GFI It will cause tripping issues and will eventually cause your GFI to be replaced. The next thing that you need to be made aware of is cords used outside for landscape lighting. I have seen people who use electrical cords outside to light up there yard. The problem with doing this is where the electrical cords plug into each other. Then ends don’t seal and aren’t used for this purpose. Eventually water will get into the exposed ends and cause the GFI to fail.
How to Install a GFI.
If you don’t feel safe working on electricity please contact a Lisecnced electrician do the work for you. Your life isn’t worth the 125 bucks or whatever it will cost to fix your issues. You will also need to purchase a voltage detector if you don’t all ready have one. They cost about 15 dollars for a decent one, and I strongly recommend using one when ever you do electrical work.
Im going to separate the instillation into two separate paragraphs. If you have three wires meaning Black/White/Green or Bare copper use A. If you have Six wires meaning 2black/2white/2copper go to B
A. If you have 3 wires you have to make sure the power is off to the outlet. Then remove the old device. If you see the picture below remove the yellow taps. you will be installing your wires to the “load” side. The black wire goes to the “hot” side/gold screw as seen below. The white wire goes to the white side/silver screw, and the green/bare copper wire goes to the green screw which the symbol looks like a Christmas tree. Now screw the outlet back into the box, and turn the power back on. Now push the reset button, and if the GFI resets you are done. If it wont reset and the power is on, you have put the wires on the load side and not the line side. Switch the wires from load to line and it should work.
B. If you have six wires you have to make sure the power is off to the outlet. Then remove the old device. You need to pay attention to where the wires go. Mark the black wire that goes into the load side(see the picture above for reference). Remove the old wires from the device find your marked black wire. find the white wire that goes with the marked black wire. you will be installing these two wires to the “load” side. The black wire goes to the “hot” side/gold screw as seen below. The white wire goes to the white side/silver screw, and the green/bare copper wire goes to the green screw which the symbol looks like a Christmas tree. The other two wires black/white are going to go to the line side. The black wire goes to the “hot” side/gold screw as seen below. The white wire goes to the white side/silver screw. Now screw the outlet back into the box, and turn the power back on. Now push the reset button, and if the GFI resets you are done.
Discuss
Written by Jugg
