Your sister and brother-in-law are a 3-hr flight from you. He replaced a GFCI receptacle in the kitchen. Now the circuits on that side of the kitchen don’t work.
He says it’s a bad receptacle and he’s just going to take it back. She says when he tried to replace the faucet, they had to call a plumber. She’s got a list of his handyman fiascoes, but hopes you can do a “save” on this one. You’re due for a visit in a couple of months, but they don’t want to wait.
What advice can you offer to him over the phone?
First, he should see if there’s power to that receptacle with the breaker closed. If the replacement he bought doesn’t have a power light, he should use a DMM (maybe he can borrow one if he doesn’t have one).
DIYers often cross the line and load wires, thinking “white goes on one side and black on the other,” though normally that is not the case with a GFCI.
To identify the line wires, connect the DMM to both leads of one set of wires (in the same cable) then close the breaker. If that’s not it, try the other set. The set with power goes on the line side.
