[djmcmath]

So I'm putting in a bathroom, and I installed a single outlet with a GFCI breaker for protection.

All is well for months. I use the outlet while I'm putting in studwalls. The drywall guys use the outlet for their tools. No problems.

A few weeks later, after we've painted the rest of the floor, done some plumbing, and a few other things, the outlet is dead. Some research shows that the breaker won't reset.

Right. First question: Where's the water? So I trace out the portion of the wire that I can still see (most of it is in the wall now), and it's all good. The outlet seems fine, but just to make sure, I pull it completely out of the circuit. So the next test is: Will the breaker reset with just the wire, no breaker. Answer: No.

So I changed out the breaker, and the new breaker worked fine. I shrugged and said, "That's $60 lesson in breaker selection. Odd, but I'm sure it's not unheard of."

That was two weeks ago. I've used the outlet half a dozen times since then. I checked it tonight and it was dead. Breaker tripped and won't reset.


My thoughts? Maybe it's bad wiring? Or maybe I've installed the breaker wrong? ... That would be strange, because they're not that hard to install. The outlet could be bad? Except that swapping in a different outlet or trying it with no outlet doesn't fix the problem. Wiring? ... Or maybe wiring?

(sigh) Never seen this before, and google turned up a lot of results that say "Check for water or something plugged in that's bad."

Any thoughts? I'm at wits end here.

Thanks,
Dan