Home Electrical Problem

Yes, all three outlets are on the same circuit. That's why the others are only labeled and don't have test/reset buttons.

Yes, the circuit must be energised to reset the GFCI device. Did the GFCI in the bathroom trip, or did the breaker trip?

Why did you replace the breaker? Do you still have the old one?

Any chance the label is wrong?

The GFCI did trip when my girlfriend was using a blow drier in the guest bath and could not be reset. The breaker in the panel did not trip but I decided to replace it hoping that would resolve the problem. And yes I do have the original one.

Did you unplug the dryer (and everything else in all the bathrooms) before trying to reset the GFCI?

Sounds like you replaced the wrong thing. Do you have a tester of any kind? Go buy a new GFCI recpt.

Then, TURN OFF CIRCUIT BREAKER TO THE CIRCUIT then remove the switch and check both sides of the switch after the breaker is turned on.

If you can't figure it out replace it.

For your safety and the others living in this home. You need to contact an electrician and have them come and take a look at the circuit in question. You are going to hurt yourself or others by trying to fix something you know nothing about.

Without seeing this in person, I would say you have a ground fault in the circuit. The GFCI is doing it's job.

If the GFI receptacle in the master bathroom is defective and the three receptacles in the other bathroom are "slaved" off the MB GFI (which it sounds like they are), this could be why none are working.

I don't think the circuit breaker was the problem.

I think the MB GFI is defective.

The AP#1 should test the side screws of the MB GFI for voltage IF THIS CAN BE DONE SAFELY by AP#1.

To continue your thought:

If any of the slave outlets are still faulted, the GFCI master would not reset.

A one year old house. Where is your contractor? Oh, one year and eleven days past the final payment = out of warranty.

Assuming all the baths are on one circuit, isn't using a GFCI breaker for that bath power circuit a more conventional way to do this?

Ahh thank you and what you say is very true however, even with a fault the master would still "click" when the reset is pressed.

His comment of "I believe that it has to have power to be reset" led me to ASSume the GFI is doing nothing when the reset is pushed, further leading me to ASSume that the master GFI is defective being that the feeder CB has been replaced, again ASSuming that the correct CB was replaced.

_{Whew - time for a cold one}

"...even with a fault the master would still "click" when the reset is pressed." Yeah, you would think so.

As you say, we are all doing a lot of ASSume-ing here. We need a little more input from our OP.

^{I'll be joining you in a little while...}

First though, did the seller or the builder give you a home warranty?

If yes, call the problem in and let them fix it.

If no, the usual user techniques such as checking the breaker box for tripped beakers or ant GFCI receptacles that have tripped.

Beyond that, call an electrician and avoid shock or death.

If this home is only 1 year old, this could very well be covered under your warranty. I would contact the general contractor first. Unless of course, he's bankrupt, which seems to be something that's becoming fairly common with home builders.

Any contractor worth his salt would cover this, with or without a warranty. Electrical failures within 1 year are unacceptable.

It's not a good thing to ASSume the GFCI is bad FIRST. The FIRST thing I too would think is that IT IS DOING ITS JOB!

If I were there to see for myself, I might agree with KJK's ASSertion that because the OP asked if it had to have power on it to reset, that this means it must not have "clicked". But we don't know that for sure. For all we know, it did "click" but because it did not actually reset, he ASSumed it was not getting power. I know for my GFCIs, that click is somewhat subtle.

Tripping GFCIs are not something to be triffled with. They are LIFE SAFETY devices and they are expensive. Prophylactic replacement without FIRST exhausting the more obvious causes of tripping can be not only expensive, but dangerous if the condition persists without being properly addressed.

Chiming in on the earlier suggestions:

Call the builder and if that fails to get a reasonable response, call a licensed electrician, pay him to fix it and then send the bill to the builder. Resort to Small Claims Court if you have to. But if you don't understand how it works, you should not risk the lives of your loved ones to prove your manly prowess. Not with this stuff anyway.

always there will a main switch / breaker / gfci installed in the main DB. please have a look in the main DB. if you have water heaters in your bathroom try to disconnect them by removing the plug top and reset the main breaker, as much of GUCI operate due to earth fault in the geyser or heater circuits.

try it .

bye

Warranty or no warranty, I would go after the contractor to fix it. If he won't fix it, sue him. Systems in a house are supposed to last a long time, not just for a year. The warranty is there to protect the buyer, not the contractor.

I have seen where they installed a GFI that fed another GFI in series, it was a real f--k'n night mare to located the missing supply. Turned out that when one of the remote plugs on the multi-GFI circuit would fault, it tripped both GFIs at the same time and no one could find the other GFI And, the house I'm currently in, some yahoo put 4 GFIs in the kitchen and the kitchen only has 4 outlets to begin with Go figure

Whoever installed the GFCI's in the kitchen didn't know what they were doing.

Just wanted to let anyone interested on what was the cause of my electrical problem. Turns out that the GFCI in the master bath, which protects all the bathroom outlets, was bad. The builders electrical contractor resolved the problem in a very professional way. Thanks to all of you for the advice.

I'm glad to hear that you got resolved. Sounds like the Builder is a straight up guy