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?

3 comments

3 Comments

ray_campbell4610d 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.

robinf5110d 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.

blair_martin9d 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.