Ever troubleshot a GFCI circuit breaker?
by RandomTroll from LinuxQuestions.org on (#6GVGA)
I mean circuit breaker, not outlet. Mine (for the bathroom) stopped working today. There's no short in the circuit. When I turned the breaker off and plugged a double-plug power cord from a working circuit into the 1 outlet in the bathroom (The circuit has 2 lights, 1 fan, 1 outlet.) it worked and drew the current rated for the devices I powered on it. The breaker buzzed.
I took it out, looked at it (nothing to see), re-installed it. Now it doesn't buzz when its circuit is powered. It also delivers no power to its output when turned on (but not wired to its load).
DDG returns a link to a page at eaton.com for testing them but I can't fetch it. (Google doesn't return the URI.) Regular breakers are $8, GFCI >$50. I'd buy the former just to see if it worked, but $50 is more than I want to pay just to find out.
Could the buzzing sound have been the GFCI mechanism broken? It sounded more mechanical than an arc. It's not hot or burnt or cracked. It's 50 years old.
I took it out, looked at it (nothing to see), re-installed it. Now it doesn't buzz when its circuit is powered. It also delivers no power to its output when turned on (but not wired to its load).
DDG returns a link to a page at eaton.com for testing them but I can't fetch it. (Google doesn't return the URI.) Regular breakers are $8, GFCI >$50. I'd buy the former just to see if it worked, but $50 is more than I want to pay just to find out.
Could the buzzing sound have been the GFCI mechanism broken? It sounded more mechanical than an arc. It's not hot or burnt or cracked. It's 50 years old.