[ptralaska]

We had some remodel work done in our kitchen and when the outlets were put back, they did not work. There are three outlets I have identified in the series. Power enters via the outlet for the refrigerator. That outlet I replaced and it works fine. The second outlet is a GFI (it was previously just a regular outlet, but this is at the kitchen counter so I am making it a GFI outlet). This is the outlet I am having trouble with. When the outlet is off, there is power to the Line. Once I attach the outlet, the outlet has no power. When I plug in the outlet tester, it has no power and shows no wiring issue. I thought maybe I had an open hot, but I checked and there seems to be no issue there.

[jlisenbe]

Have you reset the GFI receptacle?

[ptralaska]

No, it won't reset as there is no power to it. I replaced the receptacle at the beginning of the series, thinking it might be faulty... no such luck. I also used a different GFI at the problem outlet. Again, no change.

Also, the first outlet in the series is Non-GFI, so it is not tripped. Again, there is power to the outlet, but when the outlet is connected-no power.

[jlisenbe]

Could be one of two things. If the test button was pressed then you will need to press reset. Also if the outlet is defective then it will be defective on "off".

[ptralaska]

I went through all scenarios on the outlet tester. I tried testing and resetting the gfi outlet. Neither will work. I tried testing the outlet via the outlet tester... nothing. I replaced the new outlet with another new outlet... nothing.
Again, the issue is power at the lines, but not when connected to the outlet. How is that even possible?
I am testing power to the lines by touching the exposed wiring with a simple 2 probe tester, which lights up at 110V

[jlisenbe]

OK. One more thought. The outlet likely has two sets of connectors, one listed as "line" and the other as "load". Be sure you are connecting to line.

Have you tried a non-GFCI outlet just to see if it works? That would at least rule out wiring as a culprit.

[ptralaska]

Wires are on the Line side. I will try using a regular outlet to see if that makes a difference. Before I used the GFI outlet, it had a regular outlet and it did move power to the next outlet.

[jlisenbe]

When you wire in the GFI, can you send a pic of the back?

If a regular receptacle works, then the problem has to be with the GFCI receptacle.

Now you probably already know this, but when you wire the source to the "line" side, and then run to the next receptacle also from "line", then the GFCI can be tripped but the next outlet will still have power. If you wire to the next outlet from "load", then the GFCI will control both outlets. That alone will tell you if the GFI is tripped or not.

[ptralaska]

Thanks-I did not know about the "Line" wiring trick.

[ptralaska]

This gets more strange by the moment. I put a non-GFI outlet on and it works. However, my outlet tester says that it is "Hot/Neutral" Reversed. Black wire is on the gold screw and white on the silver screw. As this is the second outlet in the series, I went to the first outlet to be certain that I had the white/netral load wire on the silver screw and the black/hot load wire on the gold screw and they are. So... how do the black and white wires change between receptacles? My only thought is that they could be spliced somewhere.

[ma0641]

Unless there is an accessible junction box, it is against code to splice wires in a wall or other concealed space. You might be running a split neutral circuit, are there black and red wires?

[jlisenbe]

If you have a voltmeter, check the black to the bare ground and see if you have voltage. If not, then check the white to bare ground. Black should have voltage, and white no voltage.

[jlisenbe]

Did you ever get this resolved??