I just removed the GFCI that produced smoke when I pressed the test button. It is a 15 amp GFCI. The circuit breaker to the GFCI says 20 amp. My house was built 10 years ago.
The only difference is the 20 amp has a T shaped slot. The 15 amp will be fine. You probably can't find a device that requires the T slot in your house.
So I just replaced the GFCI with a new one. I turned on the circuit breaker. GFCI does not work. I tested all of the wires and there is no charge at all.
What do I do now? Replace the circuit breaker switch?
No, I don't think he caught the part where you said you turned it back on is all.
IF the breaker STAYED turned on, and the outlets do not work, there is most likely an open in the line somewhere.
If the breaker shuts itself off, there is a short.
When I turn the breaker to the on position, it stays that way even though there is no power from it. In fact, when the old GFCI failed last week and produced smoke, none of the circuit breakers switched off by itself.
Does "open in the line" mean the line is interrupted?
Going back to the original question, if you've got a potential 20 amps available to be going through the receptacle then I would use a 20 amp receptacle. I would imagine the electrical code would state that.
I realize the new problem is no power. But if you plug two 10 amp devices into the receptacle, is that receptacle going to be able to handle that without causing any problems (ie overheating)?
I should point out that before the old GFCI produced smoke, it was triggered every time I turned off my barber clippers. In other words, I would plug the clippers into the GFCI, cut my hair, and then when I turned off the clippers, the GFCI would trigger, requiring me to reset it. Is this normal GFCI behavior when using hair clippers?
Is it possible the old GFCI was wired incorrectly when the house was built?
Ok, I found out looking at some other posts that 15 amp recptacles have a 20 amp pass through and it is ok to do this, I didn't know that but I do now.
I think I misunderstood your question. I put tape in 2 places....
I placed tape near line neutral so that it will not touch the ground wire when I shove it back into the wall.
I also wrapped tape around load hot because the wire was partially stripped when I inspected it.
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