I woke up at 0430 to a dark rig and beeping from my APC units for the computers and entertainment center. The power was out. After much stumbling around I checked all the breakers in the rig and all were good. I went out to the pedestal and the breaker there was tripped. I tried to reset a few times but it kept popping. So I went back into the rig and flipped all my inside breakers off. Went back out and this time the pedestal breaker reset. Back inside I started turning on breakers. As soon as I hit the living room breaker the pedestal breaker went. Hmmmmm, why didn't the inside main breaker go? Back out to the pedestal, Ah ha! it is a GFI breaker. I have a ground fault somewhere in the living room wiring. There is no GFI outlet for the living room. I went back inside and unplugged EVERYTHING from the living room outlets, the pedestal still kicked out.
Now I need coffee! I have pulled and disassembled the two easiest outlets to get to, the ones under the rear window. Wow, what cheesy outlets. They appear to be good but without putting a meter on them I no way of checking for a fault. There are 4 more dead outlets on this circuit, two behind the entertainment center, one behind the fireplace, and one at the desk. My question is: when I throw the meter on the outlets I know how to check for a short or open circuit but have forgotten how to check for a ground fault. All helpful answers would be appreciated as I have two extensions running the computers and entertainment center. They are green and sort of Christmasie but that won't fly with Betsy. And we don't have the fireplace at the moment... Dave
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