Abilities Insufficient

After the fix

On the day before our Hawaiian vacation the GFCI outlet by the downstairs family room sink tripped, and no amount of reset attempts were successful. When we returned from vacation, we found that four outlets (three GFCI's) in upstairs bathrooms were also out.

There was a decent chance that my home handyman skills were enough to solve the problem; the house was constructed before building codes required that kitchen and bathroom outlets be outfitted with shock protection, and I had put in the GFCI outlets myself.

After half a day of diddling, including replacing some older outlets, I gave up. The local electrician had an opening on his calendar, and he was here in an hour.

Displaying competence way beyond my skill set, he tested all circuits on the main panel in a matter of minutes. Unable to find the faulty circuit, he went methodically through each of the outlets (our house has over 30).

Luckily, one of the first outlets--it was functioning, by the way--he examined emitted a faint crackling sound after he pulled it from the wall. He replaced the faulty connector (part of the original construction), and everything began working in short order. The whole process took one hour and cost $100, the best $100 spent this month.

This was the third occasion this year -- the first two involved plumbing -- where my abilities proved insufficient to the task. And no, I'm not discouraged; I learn more by watching the professionals after trying to fix the problem myself.