Hello all,

I am new here, and primarily came to this forum because I seemed to be having some problems with gfci outlets in my apartment bathroom.

Let me first go through what happened today: I came home from work and saw that the red LED light that is positioned between 'follow' and 'instructions' was on, which it normally isn't. This is a Chicago GFCI outlet by the way, and I'm pretty sure I threw away the instructions. I didn't think I would need them after installing the outlet, so kind of regretting that now. I just installed it about a month ago, so this is not an old outlet by any stretch of the imagination, and nothing was plugged in at the time.

So after seeing the LED light up, I tried resetting it and when I did, it gave off a buzzing noise and wouldn't actually reset. The test button didn't do anything when I pressed it, but the puzzling thing is I'm still getting power from the outlet. Checked the voltage, getting the 120V. Plugged my razor which is generally the only thing I use it for, and it was still working. Now, I did smell this sort of burning-ish smell that seemed to come from the outlet on the left side which brings me to what happened to a previous gfci outlet I had before this.

It was a random occurrence. I came into the bathroom and I heard a popping a buzzing noise coming from the outlet, and then smoke came out. Basically smelled the same as the current one does now. Nothing was plugged in, so I was a bit surprised. I think possibly for awhile, the outlet wouldn't work, but eventually it seemed to reset itself, and the LED light that lights up when it's working (this was a different manufacture by the way, not Chicago) came back on. I'm pretty sure I was getting the 120V out of it, didn't try plugging in anything though. I went ahead and got a new outlet just to be safe. Installed it, everything seemed okay. It's been working up until today, so I'm just wondering what the problem is. It seems to have done the same thing the previous outlet did. Also the circuit breaker hasn't tripped either time.

I've been in this apartment for a year, and I haven't had any of these problems up until recently, so wondering if anyone has any insight on what could be causing this, and how I should move forward.

Thank you

 

If you rent for liability reasons you need to have your landlord fix this.

 

If you are a tenant, you have no business whatsoever working on any aspect of the electrical system in your apartment.

 

Agree!

Is this the GFCI outlet?

120 Volt 15 Amp GFCI Outlet With LED - Ivory

Hopefully your landlord will replace this Chinese GFCI receptacle with a reputable American made brand.

 

Yes that is it. I guess I thought since it would be a quick simple fix it would probably be okay if I replaced it myself, but yeah I probably should have had the landlord handle it. I did call the office yesterday, and I guess they had the mechanic come in and replace it, but it's not a gfci. Isn't it required that all bathrooms have gfci outlets in apartments? Either way I'll go ahead and call the landlord and tell him to put a new gfci in there.

Thanks for the help.


Sorry, I was trying to quote Casual Joe by the way, I thought it would automatically do that if I hit reply, guess not.

Actually I have another question. Is there a requirement for kitchens to have gfci's as well because my kitchen just has regular outlets? This is my first apartment so sorry if these questions seem simple.

Thanks.

 

If it is in a bathroom or kitchen and if it is protected by a GFCI device upstream it should not be a GFCI receptacle. If it isn't protected by an upstream GFCI device then it should be a GFCI receptacle.

 

Ok, just left a message with the landlord. Hopefully he'll respond soon.

Thanks

 

How old are these apartments? If they are very old, they may pre-date the requirements for GFCI protection and be grandfathered without the GFCI protection.