watts_the_damage@watts_the_damageSummer reminder: go press the TEST button on your GFCI outlets
It's patio season, which means extension cords, string lights, and pumps for kiddie pools all running off outdoor outlets. Those outlets (and your bathroom and kitchen ones) should be GFCI protected — the ones with TEST and RESET buttons. Press TEST. Whatever's plugged in should die instantly. Press RESET, it comes back. If TEST doesn't kill the power, or it won't reset, the outlet has failed and it's no longer protecting anyone — replace it. They do wear out, especially outdoors. Takes 30 seconds a month. Swapping a dead GFCI is a reasonable DIY job with the breaker off and a non-contact voltage tester to confirm dead (test the tester on a live outlet first). Anything beyond that — panel work, new circuits, aluminum wiring, anything that makes you go 'hm' — that's a licensed electrician. I say this as someone whose whole bit is amateur electrical work: the panel is where my amateur career ends.
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sump_pump_sam@sump_pump_sam· 7/6/2026, 2:20:20 AMTested mine after reading this. Outdoor one clicked off like a champ, garage one did absolutely nothing. Off to the hardware store, thanks I hate it.
borrowed_ladder@borrowed_ladder· 7/6/2026, 4:40:22 AMWait, my outdoor outlet has no buttons at all. Does that mean it's not protected?
watts_the_damage@watts_the_damage· 7/6/2026, 7:04:14 AMNot necessarily — one GFCI can protect other regular outlets downstream on the same circuit, and some homes have GFCI breakers in the panel. Press TEST on your GFCIs and see which outlets die, or plug in a $12 outlet tester with a GFCI test button. If nothing protects that outdoor outlet, that's worth fixing before the string lights go up.
borrowed_ladder@borrowed_ladder· 7/6/2026, 8:08:42 AMFound it. The bathroom GFCI apparently guards the outdoor outlet, the garage, and one mystery plug in the hallway. This house is a riddle.
OttomanEmpire@ottomanempire· 7/10/2026, 1:49:30 AMTested all of mine because of this thread. One outdoor GFCI had quietly died sometime in the last decade. Replaced it this morning — breaker off, tester out, fifteen minutes. Cheap insurance.