Save Money With GFI Replacement Tips

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Today, I’m going to go DIY on everybody and talk about GFI (GFCI) Replacement Tips!

This past weekend, our microwave died (or so we believed).  It started making funny noises a week ago, and finally Friday, it stopped working all together!

So our adventure began with a trip to Walmart to buy a new economical microwave model.  We brought it home and plugged it in, but the new microwave didn’t work either!

So we tried a different outlet, alas still no chirping on of a microwave with juice!

Next we tried a nite light in the first outlet, then the second outlet, then a third outlet, and finally the outlet in the bathroom.  Finally victory, the outlet in the bathroom worked!  At this point we realized that it was a GFI – Ground Fault Interrupter (or CFCI – Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) outlet problem.  You see, with a CFCI outlet it may have other outlets on the same circuit.  This way if one of the outlets has an issue, it will trip the CFI outlet so none of the outlets work on the circuit.

So after a quick and easy search, we found a GFCI outlet 2 outlets away from our problem one, and sure enough it was broke!  I determined this by pushing the “Test” button, but when it didn’t trip, it was obvious that I found the problem!

So I drove to the store and bought a replacement CFCI outlet.  I also saw an outlet tester, so I picked up one of these too (it was only $7.00).

To replacing the CFI outlet, I just googled “fault outlet” and found this video:

Following the video I came up with the following instructions/tips:

  • Always!  Always make sure the power to the outlet if off via the breaker box in the basement
  • Use an outlet tester to make sure no juice is going to the outlet
  • Please, please make sure the power is OFF!
  • The ground wires go to the green screw
  • The black wires go to the gold colored screws.
  • The white wires go to the silver colored screws.
  • Double check your work because mistakes are easy!
  • Don’t screw the outlet or cover screws in too hard!  It’s easy to strip the case since it just plastic!

I hope you don’t experience this type of problem, but if you do know that it’s fairly easy to replace!

-MR

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7 thoughts on “Save Money With GFI Replacement Tips”

  1. I went through that exact problem with my bathroom outlets. I thought it was weird to link all the bathrooms though. If one outlet goes so do all. All I had to do was push in the button, but it was a little frustrating until I figured it out.

    • Yeah, I know what you mean!

      On the one above, the button to reset the outlet wouldn’t work. Once I turned off the power and check it out, one of the white wires looks like it started to catch on fire. Scary stuff.

    • I had a buddy that was in a similar scenario and he did get shocked! So I made sure that the power was completely off before I tried this little DIY project!

  3. That’s awesome you fixed it! I’ve been doing a lot of home improvement stuff lately and this will definitely come in handy. So far I haven’t done any electrical work but I’m sure I will need to someday. Plumbing and re-caulking windows is on my fix list for now.

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