I believe that I have a short in my wiring on one of my circuits. I added a GFCI when I remodeled my bathroom on the end of the run, and it worked for the first couple weeks after installation. Recently I noticed that it quit working. After removing wires from outlets and replacing parts, I found that I have approximately 8 ohms of resistance from ground to hot. This leads me to believe that I have a short somewhere, but have no idea where, or what would cause a short that does not trip the circuit breaker. Any ideas? Thanks
Detroit | Rebirth in Detroit
Original Air Date: June 01, 2017
Season 38, Episode 26
Ask TOH | Hawaii Makes 50!
Original Air Date: June 01, 2017
Season 15, Episode 26
TV Listings
Find TV listings for This Old House and Ask This Old House in your area.
You say that the GFCI was at the end of a run. I am guessing you have other items on the circuit. You are probably reading through a load on the circuit. An 8 ohm load would draw 15 amps which would not trip a 20 amp breaker. That load would be about a 1800 watt load.
Jack
If the breaker is not tripped then I doubt it's a short. When the GFCI was not working then every other device before ( upstream ) of the GFCI would still be energized if the breaker was not tripped.
The first obvious thing would be the GFCI has tripped and would need to be reset.
If it can't reset then either there is no power being supplied or there is likely an internal fault of the GFCI.
Considering it had worked for awhile --- I would suspect a loose connection at wherever the junction that supplies power for the GFCI. You would need to look at the splice connections ( hot and neutral ) to the GFCI and check to ensure they are tight. My guess would be a poor neutral connection.
Barring that then it's possible you have a faulty GFCI and needs to be replaced.
Oh mine people!! Are you seriously tackling such imposrtant issues without a professional's help??