how can one day the gfi works and the next day it is not working.
The breakers are intact(on), there is no power to the gfi??

1. The GFCI has tripped and needs to be reset (I know, obvious but happens a lot)
2. The GFCI is defective. I've found that about one out of every 15 to 20 are defective out of the box.
3. Loose wiring somewhere in the GFCI circuit. Most likely place is at the GFCI itself but could be anywhere.
4. There is another GFCI linked in the same circuit.
5. Some other load on the same circuit as the GFCI is causing it to trip. For example - many bath exhaust fans or ceiling fans will trip a GFCI. So everything is working fine until you turn on the fan in a bathroom at the other end of the house, then your GFCI goes dead.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Jaybee,

Agree with Jaybee about crappy GFCIs. China dumped a ton of "contractor grade" [what ever that is] devices on the Good Olde US of A. To bad the ship did not hit a rock on its journey to its Americas ports..
Buy the best device you can afford, as many are still made in this country [or N.A.]to meet NAFTA-Compliant standards. Pricy but cuts call backs dramatically. Good luck.

There is not any power in the wires to the gfi but all the breakers are on I checked them ????

quote:

Originally posted by DAG:
There is not any power in the wires to the gfi but all the breakers are on I checked them ????

Then it is narrowed down to:

1. Defective circuit breaker. Looks like it's on but it's not.
2. Poor connection causing an open circuit condition. This could be anywhere in the circuit.
3. As mentioned above, the circuit is routed through another GFCI somewhere that is tripped.
4. Long shot - Somebody made a switched circuit, or pulled power from the load side of a three way switch. In both these cases, if the wrong switch is flipped, power goes out.

Add in a poorly made up connection in a junction box somewhere along the line or even a poorly made connection in the panel box @ the breaker. Trouble shooting is anything if not a mystery. Good luck..

a very common nasty is using those "poke and run" springy back-wired devices. when you remove the wires, you will inevitably find compression damage from the fastener, and chip and/or black smoke damage from arcing at that spring clip.

as you chase back each device in the chain diagnosing where the power failed, strip the wire back, clean it up, cut off the damage, and hook 'em all with right-facing hooks to the side terminals under nice tight screws. won't fail again... on that circuit section.