We overloaded our back lanai outlet (used 20amp doggy hair dryer on a 15amp breaker oops prior house handled it so didn't think to check) and melted the GFCI outlet in the garage that protects the circuit. Changed out the GFCI outlet (Leviton 20a dual pole just like the old one), stripped the melted line wire back well, get a green light so load and line are correct (switched them just to make sure and got a red light) and the load wire has power but the line wire does not. Confused that there is no power in the line wire that feeds the outlet but there is in the load that feeds the circuit. Replaced the jumper section in the line wire (with 10g stranded just to see if the joint was bad) and still no power to the line wire, load has power still. Tested the breakers and all show power but the one that powers this one was a tad bit weaker. Not sure if breaker related now or the outlet and I could spend all weekend getting nothing done if there is something deeper in the circuit wrong. Checked other outlets on the circuit and they seem to be ok, no burnt wire or melted outlet, the screws are a bit rusty from being outside outlets but wire looks ok. No idea where to go from here. Really confused that the line wire has no power but the load does. Any thoughts?
Nevermind, figured it out. Guess you have to post for the answer to come to mind. I kept questioning why the GFCI would not reset and hubby kept demanding he got the load and line correct – the same way it came off. I dug the old outlet out of the garbage and said the load connector is melted not line. The wires are backwards. Blah blah I did it right….a lot of eye rolls and huffing later…it was backwards. Working fine now.
Best Answer
Hard to say exactly what the problem is. Pictures would help. But here are a couple of thoughts:
Overloads can cause multiple problems
It is possible that an overload at one receptacle can damage that receptacle and also damage wires in other locations. In particular, if you have a string of receptacles, something like:
then an overload at the GFCI could cause problems in the living room or bedroom receptacles. This is especially likely if those receptacles are functioning as part of a chain - power in on left and out on right (or vice versa) and the connections are done with backstabs rather than screw terminals. If you had a weak connection before, an overload may have made it weaker.
Breaker Mismatch
"15amp breaker" plus "Leviton 20a dual pole" is against the rules and a Really Bad Idea. The other way around is OK - 15A duplex receptacle on a 20A circuit.
The problem is that when there is a 15A breaker, it is there to protect wire (normally 14 AWG) that is rated for no more than 15A. By installing a 20A receptacle, you are encouraging use of larger appliances (as was the case here). While the breaker should provide enough protection, using a smaller breaker than the receptacle can lead to nuisance trips and a temptation to swap the breaker (without making sure all the wire is 12 AWG or larger), as well as other problems. This should be a 15A dual receptacle, not a 20A dual receptacle.