Electrical problem

[Debbie D]

Had the house pressure washed and now no power in the front lanai or any outside plug.
The GFI plug in the garage has the button out and I can not press it back...

Checked the fuse box...and flipped the GFI switch but nothing helps....,


Ideas?

Thank you

[cathyw]

We had the same problem. Water got into the outside outlet from presure washing.
For safety reasons, you will not be able to reset until the outlet has dried out. This may take 24-48 hours. Once it has dried, you should be able to reset in the garage.
We now make sure the outside outlet covers are tightly closed before power washing.

[jimbo2012]

take a hair dryer if that's suspected for a few minutes, then retry, also I think there R two buttons to push try both

[cathyw]

jimbo....I must be missing something.
If the outside outlet may have water in it and you are suggesting drying it out using a hair dryer....where are you going to plug in the hair dryer ?
PS....Happy Birthday !

[jimbo2012]

tks

Plug it into working outlet on an extension cord, or your neighbors house.

By the way if an electrician is needed send the bill to the power wash guy

[Bill-n-Brillo]

........Plug it into working outlet on an extension cord, or your neighbors house.

By the way if an electrician is needed send the bill to the power wash guy

And if the neighbor comes over and roughs you up for "borrowing" their electric, send the bill to jimbo!!!

:pepper2:

:jester:

Bill :wave:

[rubicon]

The cause of the problem is well defined and accurate. The remedy well I mleave that to the professionals on board

[Debbie D]

Thank you so much for your replies...

No luck yet...we have even tried the hair dryer...

Maybe we will wait another couple of days in the hope things dry out....

[jimbo2012]

If the dryer didn't work I suspect the outlet needs to be replaced, it's toast, a 10 minute job.

Don't you have more than one outdoor outlet?

If that's not it it will need to be traced out.

The water must have fried it.

[JeffAVEWS]

If the GFI will not reset it could be toast! Focus on the GFI, it needs to be in working order. You might have to isolate it and see if it resets. This is dangerous if you don't know what you are doing around power. Circuit breakers are designed to trip when the rated amperage is exceeded, they are for fire protection. GFI's trip when there is an unbalanced condition between the hot side and the return side (a short), they are for shock protection. It does not take much of a "leak" for GFI's to trip, so even a tiny amount of water intruding in the receptacle could cause a Milli-amp short, enough to trip the GFI.

[l2ridehd]

When a GFI breaker trips it stops at the mid point and can not be turned on from that position. It needs to be fully turned off before trying to turn on. You have to push it completely to the off position. Then move it back to the on position. If you still have a problem it will trip again back to the mid point position.

I have seen GFI breakers that have a GFI outlet somewhere in the circuit. Not sure why, but have found that even in TV. Check the entire circuit and you will probably find more then a single outlet not working. Usually there are two or more exterior outlets on a home and you may have water in more then one. Check them all for power. Find all those not working and dry them all with the hair dryer. Then try to reset the GFI breaker as described above.

[scarecrow1]

use an extension cord

[Debbie D]

Problem resolved.....another go with the hair dryer and this time it worked...

Thank you all!