Strange fuse problem

[Leslie K]

I have a wall in my house that is obviously overloaded as the fuse is known to blow (maybe once every 3 months of so).

I was cleaning my stove today with a steam-type cleaner and the fuse seemed to blow on that wall. However, when I reset the fuse, nothing came back on. I tried switching it out with another fuse that I knew was good, and still no luck.

It is only the outlets on that fuse that aren't working. Any ideas as to what could have gone wrong? I'm wondering if I somehow blew a fuse on the stove itself and that is shutting down the circuit (it's on the plug the further from the fuse box).

I know nothing about such things, so please be gentle ;) Unless there is an easy fix to try, I'll be calling in an electrician.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[fire]

Especially since you were using steam, I suspect that you may have a GFCI outlet in that circuit and you tripped it. It needs to be reset. This would be an outlet that would have two small buttons in the center, with one being red and the other black or brown.

[Percival P. Cassidy]

I've seen GFCI outlets with black and red buttons, but both buttons on our recently purchased Cooper GFCI outlets are the same color as the body of the device, whether black, gray, ivory or white.

Perce

[Leslie K]

Thank you - I should have mentioned that the stove did have one of those outlets (and as was noted in the next post, post buttons are white) and I did try resetting it with no luck. I very much appreciate the advice and I will try again, just in case.

[mm]

Do you think you might have gotten a lot of water in an outlet/receptacle?

Is this a screw-in glass and metal fuse? or something shaped like such a fuse but with a button in it that you can press to reset?

Any chance you blew the second fuse too? Do you have a volt-ohm meter? You could unscrew the fuse and use it to see if the fuse is good.

Electric stove or gas? If electric, it's not on the same circuit as your outlets.

Anything else plugged into those outlets? One of them could be causing a problem, or worst case, maybe there is a coincidental problem in the wiring.

How long since the steam cleaning? Maybe things have dried out by now.

[mm]

Are you referring to resetting the outlet? The outlet is NOT a fuse. If that's what it was, that's why my previous answer was probably off track.

But if you are referring to an outlet, what do you mean, switched out with another fuse?

Do you have fuses or circuit breakers in your fuse-box/breaker-box?

[Leslie K]

Definitely not in an outlet/receptacle, but there was steam going into the stove (I was cleaning the knobs).

It's the one with the push button, but when the push button didn't reset, I used a screw in glass and metal. Neither one has worked. I then tried another push button that didn't work - but does work when I put it in another spot on the fusebox (Sorry - I don't know the name for the place where you screw the fuse in).

I do have a volt meter, but since it worked in another spot, I know I didn't blow it.

It is gas.

I'll unplug everything and try again - it's worth a shot!

Again worth a shot - thanks for the suggestions!

[Leslie K]

I've done both. First tried the fuse, then pulled out the stove and reset the outlet when the fuse didn't work.

Thanks again!

[Leslie K]

I went back and reset the outlet again, and then reset the fuse again

- and I had success. I'm not sure why it worked this time, but thanks for your suggestions - if you hadn't told me to go try again, I probably would have just given it up as a bad job.

Thanks for all your suggestions and help - they are very much appreciated.

[mm]

A lot of times something works the next time, even though one can find no reason. It's almost like God is doing supernatural things, but I doubt he spends his time that way.

You're welcome.

[fire]

GFCI outlets (at least the ones I've seen) won't reset unless they are energized. If the circuit breaker was tripped when you tried to reset the GFCI, nothing would have happened.

[Mark Lloyd]

I do have some GFCIs with black and red buttons. They are all older ones. The new ones all have them the same color (and also a little light that comes on when it trips).

[<kjpro]

I would suggest that you make the call...

[<kjpro]

Since you didn&#39;t locate the original problem, you still need to call in an electrician.