GFCIs, or HELP! My bathrooms are dark!

Factual Questions
1

Early this morning, a thunderstorm rolled through the Twin Cities area. This morning, I woke up, went into the bathroom, flipped the light switch, and…nothing. This was no ordinary power outage, though, since the light in my bedroom did work.

In the bathroom, I noticed a little amber light on near the outlet. Now, this is a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) outlet, and, sure enough, I discovered that the little “RESET” button had popped out.

I tried to push the button back in to reset the circuit. The darn little button won’t pop back in! I am left in the dark.

I decide to go downstairs and use the other bathroom. No lights there, either! Apparently, the two rooms are on the same circuit. Strangely enough, though, this bathroom has its own GFCI, and this one appears to be untripped.

I peek in the circuit-breaker box. All the breakers were still on.

OK, here are my questions: What could have caused the GFCI to trip? There were no electrical items running at all in either bathroom, and no one was even awake. Could it have been lightning? And why won’t the darn thing reset? Is the outlet itself broken, or does this indicate that I’ve got a serious problem? And what sort of insane idiot would put both bathrooms, lights and all, on the same circuit? It would be nice to have a “spare” right now where you could shower without a flashlight!

I can’t seem to find any information about GFCIs except the reasons why it’s good to have them. I’m sure I’d be very grateful for the thing right now if I dropped a hairdryer in the sink, but when the thing blows in the middle of the night with no one awake, it just seems to be a PITA. I just bought this house, and I also bought a home warranty, so if it is something serious, I am covered. However, there is a deductable, so if this is something stupid that I could fix myself, I’d like to know.

Thanks in advance for your help.

2

Not only should the two bathrooms should be on separate circuit, but the lights should not be on the same circuit as the GFCI. Code pretty much says that each bathroom gets its own dedicated GFCI protected outlet. The lights are not allowed to be on the same circuit for pretty much the reason that you’re seeing – if your hairdryer blows the circuit, you don’t want the lights going out. And you don’t want two bathrooms on the same circuit because in the case that two people are using 1250 Watt hairdriers at the same time, you will blow the circuit breaker. If this is an older house, it was probably constructed before these particular items were added to the code. (You don’t have to run out and upgrade, but if you ever decide to renovate a bath and get a building permit, you’ll have to rewire in order to pass the inspection.)

Could the lightning have zapped your GFCI? Yup. A GFCI measures the difference in current between the grounding and hot wire. I could guess lightning could induce current through the ground. It’s not improbable that a high enough voltage spike would damage the device. Replacing it is simple and reasonably cheap ($10-$20 at Home Depot). All you need is a screwdriver, and maybe some pliers. Just make real sure that the power is off at the circuit box before you start working. Buy a three pack and you’re all set for the next few lightning storms :slight_smile:

3

Cecil on GFCI’s:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a940812b.html

4

Finagle is pretty much right on the money.

It is not an uncommon occurrence for GFCI’s to be zapped by lightening-induced voltage spikes. I’ve had to replace my share of them after a thunderstorm. (I’ve also read that up to 25% of all GFCI’s are malfunctioning due to power surges or lightening strikes.)

It’s always a good idea to test all your GFCI’s after a thunderstorm. Even though a GFCI has a built-in MOV, it will degrade after a number of surges. A point will be reached when the MOV does nothing (open circuit), leaving the GFCI control circuit susceptible to power surges or lightening strikes.

I’ve also heard that a manufacturer has come out with a GFCI that protects against voltage transients without using MOVs. Not sure the name…

More here:

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/elcosh/docs/d0200/d000285/d000285.html

5

Cecil sez:

Volts? Did he mean amps?

6

My husband played with the reset switch this morning and got it to pop back in. I’m not sure what that means now, but, we’ve got lights again.

The house was built in 1978. You’d love the labels in the circuit-breaker box. Many of them say “lites” [sic], with no indication of which room(s) these “lites” are in. Very helpful. :rolleyes:.