Just to prove I have a life beyond taking photos... we recently had a major "D'oh!" moment, the sort of thing that makes you feel really stupid for not having thought of it sooner, while at the same time feeling somewhat clever for having finally figured it out.
We have two sets of outlets right next to the counter with the sink in our bathroom and a few weeks ago,![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rackham went to plug something into the back set and discovered they had no power. We were pretty certain we'd used it since we moved in, but chalked it up to some of the funkiness in this house and decided we'd just have an electrician look at it (we need to get someone out to work on a number of other small things, so we thought we'd just do it then).
A few days ago, I was out running errands and for some reason, my brain started wandering back to the problem of the non-working outlet... and, no pun intended, a lightbulb went off. The master bath has a nice jetted tub in the far corner opposite the wall that holds the aforementioned outlet, but we'd never actually used the jet feature. When we had the house inspected, we discovered that a) there was no access panel to get into the inner workings of the tub and b) it did not appear to be on a GFI circuit (the inspector could find no indication that it was and, lacking an access panel, there was really no way to check without taking apart the tub). After a few nervous baths (seriously, I kept imagining myself getting electrocuted because there was no safeguard), Rackham hit upon the perfect solution and simply turned off the breaker for the power there. It didn't seem to have an effect on anything else, so we figured we were good.
Flash forward a few months and apparently for the first time since we did that, we tried using the back outlet block... and it didn't work. So, yesterday we flipped that breaker back on and guess what? That circuit *is* on a GFI, it's just that the reset for it is across the room in that outlet! This actually also explains why both sets of outlets had GFI reset buttons (where normally they would have both been on the same circuit and only would have needed one reset for both). What's even funnier is that we've sort of run into a similar issue before... in our last house, both bathrooms were on the same circuit with a GFI that happened to have a reset button in one room and not the other (leading us to believe, at first, that one of the bathrooms had no GFI circuit). Still, it's nice to know I can take a bath (and maybe even use the jet feature) and not have to worry about being electrocuted!
Also, I think if we'd tried plugging something into that outlet within a week of turning off that circuit, it would have been pretty obvious... but it really had been months and apparently was not as easy to make the connection!
Crossposted from my Livejournal.
We have two sets of outlets right next to the counter with the sink in our bathroom and a few weeks ago,
rackham went to plug something into the back set and discovered they had no power. We were pretty certain we'd used it since we moved in, but chalked it up to some of the funkiness in this house and decided we'd just have an electrician look at it (we need to get someone out to work on a number of other small things, so we thought we'd just do it then).A few days ago, I was out running errands and for some reason, my brain started wandering back to the problem of the non-working outlet... and, no pun intended, a lightbulb went off. The master bath has a nice jetted tub in the far corner opposite the wall that holds the aforementioned outlet, but we'd never actually used the jet feature. When we had the house inspected, we discovered that a) there was no access panel to get into the inner workings of the tub and b) it did not appear to be on a GFI circuit (the inspector could find no indication that it was and, lacking an access panel, there was really no way to check without taking apart the tub). After a few nervous baths (seriously, I kept imagining myself getting electrocuted because there was no safeguard), Rackham hit upon the perfect solution and simply turned off the breaker for the power there. It didn't seem to have an effect on anything else, so we figured we were good.
Flash forward a few months and apparently for the first time since we did that, we tried using the back outlet block... and it didn't work. So, yesterday we flipped that breaker back on and guess what? That circuit *is* on a GFI, it's just that the reset for it is across the room in that outlet! This actually also explains why both sets of outlets had GFI reset buttons (where normally they would have both been on the same circuit and only would have needed one reset for both). What's even funnier is that we've sort of run into a similar issue before... in our last house, both bathrooms were on the same circuit with a GFI that happened to have a reset button in one room and not the other (leading us to believe, at first, that one of the bathrooms had no GFI circuit). Still, it's nice to know I can take a bath (and maybe even use the jet feature) and not have to worry about being electrocuted!
Also, I think if we'd tried plugging something into that outlet within a week of turning off that circuit, it would have been pretty obvious... but it really had been months and apparently was not as easy to make the connection!
Crossposted from my Livejournal.
