Electrical Outlet Issue
I recently installed a powerful window AC unit in my living room. It runs just fine, but would trip the breaker if I ran the vacuum on the same circuit. No problem though, I reset the breaker and stopped vacuuming.
One day I came home to find the AC unit had no power, but the breaker was not tripped. My wall outlets have an upper socket, and a lower socket. All of the upper sockets in the room have lost power, but all of the lower sockets still function.
I ran into the same exact problem once before and resolved it by replacing a faulty GFCI unit in the kitchen. (apparently they are protected on the same circuit). This time though, I plugged a toaster into each socket of each of my GFCI units and verified power. I've reset them all too.
Strangely, I get a miniscule trickle of power on the upper outlets, as verified by the faint glow of an LED nightlight. I think this indicates a breaker did not trip, although the bulb may be lit by induced current from other live wires.
Is my GFCI to blame here, or am I looking at a problem with something else? Is it possible to get power on the outlets of a GFCI, but have the circuit to the other outlets disrupted?
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