testing exterior GFCI's in homes full of furniture

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

Say you're inspecting a 6000 sq. ft. home, you go to test the exterior GFCI out back and it responds, but you don't hear a sound. The main panel has no tripped breakers, so you know it's controlled by another GFCI outlet inside the home because none of the exterior outlets have reset buttons.

Well the family is moving and there's stuff everywhere, in boxes and out and all piled against the walls. How long do you spend searching for the thing so you can reset it and... what, test the other exterior GFCI's only to find that hey! Must be a different outlet controls this one. Start searching all over again.

Usually the controlling outlet location bears some kind of logical relation to the location of the one you tested, but not always.

Anyone got a good answer to this?

[Roy D. Cooke, Sr]

Yes the same thing happened to me once reported it to the home owner and went on with my inspection .
I also wrote it up the same way in my report.
Roy Cooke

[tdietrich1]

No real logic sometimes, My master bath gfci was 'protected' by a receptacle in the basement.

I suggest this..... walk away.

tom

[dbush]

Kenton, how about in the Garage?

[John Cahill]

Originally Posted by dbush

Kenton, how about in the Garage?

Kenton, its either next to the life support machine or the freezer full of meat worth a $1,000.

[Marc D. Shunk]

As an electrician, when I get calls for non functional outdoor recs that I'm pretty sure are not working due to a tripped GFCI someplace, I put a telephone "toner" on that outdoor receptacle. It takes maybe a 2 minute walk around the house with the probe (receiver) portion of the tool to pin down where the GFCI is to reset it. I'm sure that's not part of your inspection tool kit, and likely may never be, but I thought it would be interesting to relate how I go about finding them.

Yeah, they're generally behind a stack of crap that hasn't been moved in the last 10 years. Fun, fun.

[Bruce A. King]

Lots of threads on this before. Some do not even use the tester button, only the actual GFCI test button.

If the house is vacant I don't worry about a GFCI covered up with sheetrock and test everything.

If the house is occupied, just trip the actual GFCI's and leave them off while finding the outlets that are off. Then reset and go back to make sure the dead outlets came back on and have the correct polarity etc..

[David P. Valley]

I always manage to locate a tripped GFCI.

I've had several situations where I had everyone (my client, both Realtors, kids, contractors, etc) looking for the reset until it was finally located.

I recall one house where I did everything I could to locate a GFCI reset and failed to locate it. I simply told the Listing agent to notify the Sellers of the situation.

I can also recall an HI story in the past where the HI failed to reset the GFCI in a garage. The Sellers stated that they had their freezer connected to that tripped GFCI and lost all their frozen foods due to the freezer losing it's power. The inspector lost in this situation and had to pay for the costs of the frozen meats and other food items.

Of course (upon settlement) the Sellers reported that they had the most expensive meats you can buy when they probably only had three packages of hamburg and some frozen veggies.

Always attempt to reset the GFCI. If it becomes impossible to locate it, make sure the Sellers are fully aware of the situation.

[Bruce A. King]

Some will not reset after being tested so keep a spare gfci outlet with you or an extension cord for any freezer that may be present.

[Marc D. Shunk]

Originally Posted by bking

Some will not reset after being tested so keep a spare gfci outlet with you ....

What do you propose to do with that spare GFCI receptacle?

[Joseph Hagarty, CMI]

Trip the GFCI receptacle when found and then determine what is Off after the GFCI receptacle has been tripped.

If the GFCI can not be found, note the GFCI as not present recommending further review / repair of the GFCI circuit.

http://nachi.org/forum/showthread.ph...highlight=GFCI

Attention to post # 4 from Russel Ray

[Dan Bowers, CMI]

No special time or attention. Keep going forward with the inspection as usual. Most of the time it shows up (98% of the time). If it doesn't show up - report it and go to the next house.

[wsiegel]

Wosrt thing that can happen is tripping a GFCI that the freezer is hooked up to. They always want you to be responsible. Had one once that was behind a built in wall unit in the garage and not accessibe. I told the seller he was SOL and had to remove the wall unit to turn the power back on. You know, we can only do our jobs to a point. When people do stupid things (like build a wall unit and cover an outlet) they need to deal with it, not us (of course he blamed me and said he has neve had a problem with it before). I responed with - you are very fortunate. Better if trip while we are here than to trip while you are away and loose all your meat.

[Jeffrey S. Campbell]

Dave that was probably me... the garage was stacked 8 feet high with crap... the least of which was a kayak on top... I never even knew there was a freezer under it... actually it only cost me $100...

lessoned learned... I always find them now... but if I could not... I would make sure I notified the owners...

[Paul W. Abernathy]

I agree...the important thing here is you tested the unit...so now you need to TEST the other locations what logic should dictate should have a GFCI.

Now the exterior receptacles should NOT be on with the bathroom receptacles however it was a practice done prior to 1999 NEC sometimes and sad to say still today if the AHJ can't find it.....

You go about your inspection....inform the RIGHT person that you can't locate it......and make them aware of it......also remember guys any GFCI you trip and CAN"T find....don't worry...i think your CLIENT would also want to know where that reset it and if you can't find it chances are they can't either......in your report state this and refer to them asking the seller where this is located if they know.

Ironically....get used to it because in the years to come the exceptions for example that let you NOT put a fridge on a GFCI in the garage will be HISTORY......even more GFCI's will need to be tested.