How to test a GFCI - How to troubleshoot a GFCI - The Electrical Guide

This video shows you how to simply and safely test a GFCI receptacle.
Generally receptacles that don't work outside your house are fed from the load side of a GFCI that has been tripped and resetting all your GFCIs is usually the solution.

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[josefnnz]

Short, yet very informative. This clearly help identify an issue with outlets in my house. Thank you!!

[TheOmengod]

I'm not getting full power to any of my receptacles. I can run fans and lights but not anything more powerful. All the outlets are reading 120. The readings from the breaker boxes are coming back fine. Any help would be appreciated. Ty.

[lilbitlibra]

Good morning, we had a flood here and our original gfci was a dual 15 and 20 amp. We tried replacing it no where to be found so we went with a leviton GFWT2-KW simply put a 20A-125V. Our breaker panel indicated 20A for the patio.

On their directions it says if you connect it and get a green light reverse the line and load wires. We did that. Not we have a solid red light and blinking light. The test button does not move just the reset button on any instances. Can you please assist?

I believe the way we connected it first and had the green light was the correct way. Leviton ships these as in a tripped state.

Thank you for your help. It's greatly appreciated.

[dictionplacement]

wow I never knew you had to press the test button... I was stumped for hours! thanks!

[rashellyohn]

Hello and thinks for sharing your knowledge. I have an old house that was built in the 50'S with the two prong receptacles and someone put in the 3 prong receptacles but they are test for open ground. They have no ground wire in the box. After putting in a gfci receptacle it tested for open hot. So I thought i reversed the blk wire the hot wire to the load and not the line. Still read for open hot . then I swapped the neutral wires around. Now im lost. When I test the wires with a multimeter it backlights red and I get 117.2 Volts and the other blk wire gives me a wired number like 9.679 or something. But the green button on gfci is lit up. I've read you can ground the receptacle box to the grn nut on the gfci. Please help. I need to get this up and running to feed the daisy chain.

[lazarusyanez]

I have a question I notice my GFci in kitchen works has power with a led green light but blinks red every 30sec-1 min maybe.

[bluesdirt]

My sons townhouse breaker trips before the gfci when the toaster is used ? Shouldn’t the gfci trip first?

[tedlahm]

I plug the over current device in my Hair Dryer (2 prong no ground) INTO a GFCI receptacle. I press the test button on the hair dryer, it DOES TRIP the hair dryer but no response from the GFCI. The GFCI does not notice the interruption in the current. comment please

[googleuser]

Back porch GFCI. Solid red light and solid green light on mine. Reset button sticking out

[corbindallas]

Mine turns red not green (like yours). I believe that's the only light with it being only red. Does that sound right to you, or have you seen outlets that only have red instead of green?

[hardtruth]

In an emergency can I safely isolate a circuit like the kitchen in my house by tripping a gfci plug and then back feed that circuit with a power station to a generator?

[BenGoudi]

Hi,
I hope doing well.
Could you please help for this question.
*when performing regular testing of a GFCI receptacle on a pool deck, the receptacle fails to reset. What is the cause.
The Best
Ben

[bentleysw]

Help...I installed a gfci...only 2 wires...hot and neutral..in the line section...I have power but the gfci tester from Lowe's doesn't trip it.

[MLS]

Nobody is answering the question, how to test if you gfci outlet is bad. I have 125v to my breaker. Does this mean my outlet is bad? It keeps tripping after I reset it.

[baldbearded]

Hey there, quick questions for you please! I just replaced mine, and the green light stays on regardless of if I press the test/reset buttons. Is that normal? I have a 20A Xtricity TR outlet.

Second question.. about the ground wires: one was screwed behind the left screw in the box, and the second ones went around the right screw in the box, before connecting to the ground input on the outlet. My question is, should both ground wires be tapped on the screws in the box, or should only one of them be?

Just trying to figure out if something might have been done wrong, but I reinstalled just like it previously was.

Thanks for the assistance in advance 🙏

[keithharrington]

The Google provided GFCI schematics...some test buttons invert a resister to test the circuitry and some do not. Manufacturers vary.

I recommend a "plug-in GFCI tester" to ensure it is wired correctly and trips on a fault.

The button may only test the mechanism and not the sensed conditions.

Also, is it still a monthly test?

[rogerg]

It seems to me that pressing these buttons only shows that the internal switches are working. To really test it wouldn't you need to plug something in and create a ground fault from that?

[JuanSanchez-pqxn]

Does the LED green light is always on ?

[SA-sdxu]

Annoying. It’s not troubleshooting if you don’t say why the button won’t go back in. I wanted to know if it’s gone bad or could be something else.

[kevindavis]

What if you can't get it to reset and it was working before, how would I check it