A couple of days ago, I went out to the garage to grab a frozen pizza to throw in the oven because I had spent all day doing yard work and various other projects. When I opened the freezer, the light was out and I found things were starting to melt. Panic time! I ran out to the circuit breaker to flip the switch back on and, just like with the guest bedroom ordeal, found that every circuit was still on.
So I had to call for the kids to help me move everything to our main fridge and the basement fridge (thank goodness our basement kitchen is almost finished and, at least, has a working fridge). Then I threw the pizza in the oven and called it a day. I needed start new the next day.
Okay, let's do this.
Sometime, overnight, I realized that plugging my 40V battery charger into the 15 amp circuit that the garage outlets are on was a bad idea and the reason I was in this situation. Oops!
Step one, find the circuit that needs to be turned off. Step two, turn it off.
I started by pulling the outlet that I plugged the battery charger into. The only thing I found was that the screws weren't tightened so I tightened them.
After putting the outlet back and then turning the circuit back on, I found that the garage outlets still weren't working. So I went back to the circuit breaker and flipped the switch off again so that I could check the other outlet. This one was the same. The screws needed to be tightened. I didn't think it would change anything but I tightened them anyway.
I was right. The outlets still weren't working. At this point, I decided that I needed to walk away and go back to work on finishing the basement kitchen. I figured I'd have to call an electrician eventually. And then...
I found the answer! This, random, GFCI outlet in the basement is on the same line as the garage outlets. When I saw the light on (which indicates that the outlet has been tripped) I remembered that our inspector told me that this outlet was at the end of the circuit that is connected to the garage outlets. The only reason he told me that was because I had asked him if we could use it to plug our refrigerator in for the basement kitchen. We decided not to use it for the fridge, in the end, and I was getting ready to put a pantry cabinet in this space instead. Anyway, back to the garage outlets. I reset this GFCI outlet and ran upstairs to see if it changed my sad situation...
Drumroll...........
Hallelujah! We have power!
It's a weird thing to feel grateful that this whole thing happened but I learned two things. One, I need to find a different place to recharge my lawn mower battery. Two, we need to find a way to keep clear access to the GFCI outlet in the basement. I may end up having to move it over a bit since it's currently located right where I'm planning on installing the second pantry.
Now, where's my Allen wrench?
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