We moved from Phoenix back to Prescott Valley a little over 14 months ago.
In that time we have never had any electricity to the outlets on our front porch or back patio. We've asked people about it from time to time but yesterday SWMBO got serious. She asked her daughter.
The BRD (Beautiful Rich Daughter) took some electrical training and worked with an electrician for about two years way back when she lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She quit one day when she was told to dig a ditch to lay cable in. She claims she said something like "Hey! I'm an electrician, I'm not a ditch digger! I quit!"
Knowing the dear, gentle girl as I do I would guess there were some other words included but those details shall be lost in the mists of history.
Anyway, the BRD told SWMBO that local electrical code requires a GFI outlet to be located in the garage for those outdoor outlets.
I swore there wasn't one but SWMBO went in search and found it. Behind a 7 foot tall storage cabinet. So we moved it out to where we could reach the GFI and began pushing buttons.
Behold! The back patio outdoor outlet worked! Then she went to try the front porch outlet. It worked for about a second then went dead. No pushing on the buttons did any good. And the one in the rear also was dead again.
SWMBO called the BRD again. She said the GFI had probably gone bad and would need to be replaced. That, she said, was above our pay grade and we should call an electrician.
We did and this morning Joe the electrician (who bears a resemblance to Billy Joel) came out. We told him about the GFI. He looked at it and said there was a scorch mark on it so that probably was the cause of the problem. But he insisted on checking for other GFI's throughout the house and looking at the circuit breaker box and so on. Finally he decided it must indeed be the GFI and opened it up. He said there was a loose ground wire, which he tightened and, Wunderbar!, everything now works.
During all of this we learned what GFI stands for: Ground Fault Interruptor. Actually he said the full name is GFIC with the C standing for Circuit. Suddenly it all makes sense.
All is well in the Taylor household. The BRD is a genius. Joe is a genius. We are fully powered up.
It just makes me want to kick my heels in the air.
But that's way above my pay grade.
I remember the days of our respective youth: we thought we'd have personal jet packs, at the very least. Now we're just happy when the electricity works.
ReplyDeleteElectricians charge a lot for even a simple fix. They are worth every penny!
ReplyDeleteOur garage door recently went out and the electrician I called brushed off a few spider webs, tapped the motor until it worked and charged me a hundred bucks. Ignorance can be expensive.
ReplyDeleteThere is joy in renting.
DeleteYes gfi interupters (two r perhaps?) are useful everywhere water can be on the loose to avoid electrocution especially in the kitchen. One of our's was very sensible and had to reset it quite often.
ReplyDeleteWay to go BRD!
I do like a happy ending!
ReplyDelete