Hi all,

This morning, I awoke to find the plug to my toaster oven out of its outlet, a GFCI receptacle. When I went to investigate, I noticed that the slots for the neutral and line are "closed", as if there's a shutter behind them (yeah, I'm a bit naive about my electrical system). Pressing the reset button on the GFCI doesn't open them; I tried testing/resetting, and all that happens is that, during the test, any other non-GFCI outlets are turned off (they return when I reset). The breaker corresponding to those outlets is obviously fine.

These outlets were installed a few weeks ago by my apartment management, so I don't know if they did something wrong with them or whathaveyou. Is there anything else I can try, or is this something a more seasoned electrician has to investigate?

Thanks.

 

Those are tamper-resistant receptacles. Once you go to plug something in, the shutter will open.

 

Yes,
If you look closely at the receptacle you should see "TR" on the front of it.
These are required now. They prevent children or anyone from inserting something into one side of receptacle. Both prongs of plug must be inserted simultaneously or shutters won't open.

Good Idea.

 

You do have to insert the plug in straight, as pressure on both hot and neutral shutters is required to open them up. A gem clip, etc poked by a child into one side will not open the shutters.