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To open the unopenable fuse box

Beats me...maybe they're just being really cautious. I'm posting what I hope will be a closer view of the left one. They are indeed labeled, but instead of trip the other one says test. Maybe they are the same thing.
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yes, test is the trip button. A reset should turn the led back to green.

The proper way to run a circuit protected by a GFCI is to not include any fixtures/outlets not needing the protection. Remodeling and added on circuits sometimes cross this line and you end up with the overhead lights or the plug behind the couch on the circuit.

They are really only to protect the receptacle circuit.
 
Every outlet in and around my kitchen, in the bathrooms and my outside outlets are GFCI.

If you have more than one on a circuit you may want to trip/test and reset each one to see which one trips the breaker.
 
I tried to reset both of those but I guess they're just blown. They were too hard to press. I suppose it's time to call the electrician...
 
There should be a culprit causing the GFCI to be tripped. If you have tried to reset the interrupt and it will not reset, something is still shorting to ground. Consider what other receptacles in that area that have small appliances plugged in and that will not turn on. Unplug them. Try again to reset the GFCI. If it will reset, plug in each appliance you unplugged one at a time. Check after each to see if the interrupt tripped again. When it trips you will have found the culprit.

It could be a wiring problem. It could be the GFCI is faulty. Neither are likely. I doubt you have been doing any wiring and for two GFCI to suddenly go bad is unlikely. My best guess is you have something plugged in that has a problem.
 
A GFCI works by measuring the current leaving the hot and the current returning on the neutral and comparing them.

One thing I found alot in apartment buildings is the stab in the back connection receptacles in a GCFI circuit become loose and cause an imbalance in the sensing circuitry of the GCFI and it will trip.

Another big one is if a common/Neutral wire nutted connection comes loose in a Junction Box, this also will trip the GCFI.

Both are time consuming to find but are easy to fix once located.
 
That's good to know. The thing is there's nothing plugged in except the usual suspects: stove/oven, fridge. I hope there's nothing wrong with them, and indeed they seem to be working fine. No, I haven't done any wiring, now or ever. It's probably something that ozonetrooper suggested, and possibly involving the microwave. At least it still makes a good food safe. I sure wish I could get it fixed. It's a Hamilton Beach, pretty big and I think 1000 watts. I paid $25 for it at a yard sale.
 
The reset button is a physical button and requires some pressure to reset. The GFCI resets I've tried to reset that tripped again while resetting I felt the tripping as well as lightly heard the interrupt. Make certain that you are fully depressing the reset button before calling an electrician.
 
The power stopped to just one room about a half hour ago. I don't know what could have tripped it. There was no more load on it then than there has been, as far as I know. There were no lights on, fans, etc., just the usual, small digital clock and a bunch of devices on a power strip or possibly a surge suppressor, and a phone on likely a different circuit.
 
It was that little guy near the upper left. I just reset it and things seem ok. As you may notice, there are no 15s on this board, only 20s and a couple of 40s. I don't know what they operate..
 
Ah, I gotcha. I still don't know what made the little bugger trip. I also don't enjoy how counterintuitive it is to have to push the door away instead of pulling it back, but at least the nuisance is fixed.
 
Dang, I thought we were talking about a GCFI outlet.

Two things wrong with our pictures, one it is a Siemens box and two it has them bullsh*t test breakers in it.

You can not do anything about the box, Siemens are one of the most expensive breakers out there to have to replace.

You can change out that breaker with a non test type and that is what I recommend. The "test" part of those breakers become weak and it starts tripping when it really should not be.

If you must, change it out with another test type, but I would get away from those types if I could.

www.homedepot.com

Siemens 20 Amp Single-Pole Type QP Circuit Breaker Q120U - The Home Depot

Find the Siemens 20 amp Single-Pole Interchangeable Circuit Breaker Q120U, single-pole thermal-magnetic breaker designed for overload and short-circuit protection of an electrical system from The Home
www.homedepot.com
 
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The best way to determine what is going on would be to monitor the amp draw on that circuit. A clamp on volt/amp meter with a "peak" hold setting is what I use. Just clamp the jaws around the "hot" side of any line on that circuit and wait for it to trip.

The meter will tell you the amount of amps that were running when the trip occured, if it is under the rating of the breaker, (20) then I would replace the breaker. If it is over the rating, then it is time to find the offending appliance.
 
Wouldn't you know the son of a gun tripped again today. At least I knew what to look for and got it done a lot faster. I don't believe Siemens deserves a good reputation.
 
Siemens makes alot of switching components, they are a name brand, unfortunately the self trip test breakers were not one of their better ideas.

Most of the big chillers use Siemens switches, I have replaced them but they are pretty reliable products.
 
This is a like a unit I serviced monthly for a year, when I worked for a contractor that had Army bases as clients, (this is on an army base), never had an issue with the Siemens components in it:

Liebert, Downflow, 15 ton, DX, Computer Room AC, M#DH199ACAE10, 208V 3Ph, w/heat



liebert (1).jpg



liebert (2).jpg
 
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I deleted all those stupid GFCI craps in my home. I hate those things. I had half the house dead every time it rained because of those things. They only became standard because some idiot got fried using their hair dryer in the bathtub. I went to similar effort at work disabling them because our golf car chargers tend to trip them out and the more modern chargers get damaged because China built them without reverse voltage protection on the DC output side, meaning when they lose AC power, the voltage from the golf car or EV backfeeds and blows out a couple FETs and two resistors and they're not repairable, but throw-away piles of crap.

GFCIs are for protecting idiots which will breed and make more idiots. The world does not need more idiots. I know how electricity works and do not need those things inconveniencing me one bit, and same goes for polarized and grounded plugs, which I also go to great effort to get rid of. why does a freaking table lamp need a polarized plug for when it's just literally two wires going to a vacuum-filled bulb that makes light by making a tungsten resistor glow? why does a laptop power brick need a polarized plug when it already has a bridge rectifier inside it? Why does a box fan need a polarized plug for when it's just an inductive motor load that doesn't care one bit about polarity? only the Shadow knows..
 
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So which side of the polarized plug is the Neutral and which side is line ?

(I already know the answer, I have been doing wiring a long time)

Many/most of the newer computer board a/c units will not run if they are hooked up incorrectly, the trouble led will blink a polarity issue code.
 
My GE window unit with digital thermostat along with two portable units seem to work fine post-GFCI plug delete. I had more issues with the GFCI that's integrated into the actual cord than the unit itself frying. Ironic what makes folks throw perfecly good A/C units to the curb these days.
 
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