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Spent 4 hours tracking down a ground fault that was literally right in front of me
So I was doing a service call in an old house in Portland last week, and the GFCI kept tripping on a bathroom circuit. I tested every outlet, opened up three junction boxes, even pulled the panel cover. After four hours I finally checked the outdoor receptacle that was hidden behind some overgrown bushes - turns out a wire nut had come loose inside the box and was just barely touching the side. Anyone else have a job where the problem was staring them in the face but they overlooked it because of where it was?
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ray_campbell462mo ago
Oh man, I feel that pain. Did something similar a few months back chasing a short in a garage - tore apart the whole ceiling looking for a chewed wire, only to find out the problem was a loose screw on the switch plate that was touching the box behind it. Spent three hours on a five minute fix. Makes you want to kick yourself right in the ladder.
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robinf512mo ago
Yeah but I kind of see it different. That loose screw was still a short, you just got lucky it was the easy one.
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blair_martin2mo ago
Dude @ray_campbell46 you're telling me you had a LOOSE SCREW causing all that? I would have been SO mad. That's the kind of thing that makes you just stand there staring at the wall for a solid minute.
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