Last evening just before going to bed, I heard a buzzing sound coming from the GFCI in the bathroom. It wasn't warm at all so I figured it can wait until morning.
This morning, I went out to the local Home Depot and bought a new GFCI to replace the bad one.
Didn't want to kill the power to the whole house so, one at a time I switched off the breakers I thought it might be on; the panel is quite old and not well labelled.
Finally, found the breaker that shut off the lights and outlets in the room.
THE THING IS STILL BUZZING.
Not wanting to call an electrician for something so seemingly simple, I then turned off the main breaker... killing everything in the house.
Eight trips to the basement in all so far, and two to the garage for tools.
STILL BUZZING!!!
Checked for voltage at the outlet... None.
Scratch head... Now considering calling that electrician anyway... scratch head some more.
Then, decided to pull the old GFCI and replace it anyway. When I moved things from underneath it; electric shaver, toothbrush holder, etc.; the buzzing stopped. <Face palm>
Found: In the toothbrush holder was an old battery operated flossing thingy. It hadn't been used in years and was pretty much forgotten; I don't think the attachments are even sold anymore. Picked it out and sure enough, found the culprit. Can't shut it off. Perhaps this is it's way of saying "Help, I need a new battery after ten years of neglect".
It's in the trash now, still humming.
So glad I didn't call in help. I'd never be able to live that down.
This morning, I went out to the local Home Depot and bought a new GFCI to replace the bad one.
Didn't want to kill the power to the whole house so, one at a time I switched off the breakers I thought it might be on; the panel is quite old and not well labelled.
Finally, found the breaker that shut off the lights and outlets in the room.
THE THING IS STILL BUZZING.
Not wanting to call an electrician for something so seemingly simple, I then turned off the main breaker... killing everything in the house.
Eight trips to the basement in all so far, and two to the garage for tools.
STILL BUZZING!!!
Checked for voltage at the outlet... None.
Scratch head... Now considering calling that electrician anyway... scratch head some more.
Then, decided to pull the old GFCI and replace it anyway. When I moved things from underneath it; electric shaver, toothbrush holder, etc.; the buzzing stopped. <Face palm>
Found: In the toothbrush holder was an old battery operated flossing thingy. It hadn't been used in years and was pretty much forgotten; I don't think the attachments are even sold anymore. Picked it out and sure enough, found the culprit. Can't shut it off. Perhaps this is it's way of saying "Help, I need a new battery after ten years of neglect".
It's in the trash now, still humming.
So glad I didn't call in help. I'd never be able to live that down.
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