Electric outlet mystery

[bababoris]

This has me completely stumped.
Swapping out receptacles the kitchen.
Current setup:
We have one run of receptacles that is fed by another thru a GFI receptacle. Works great. Bottom run is hot and goes into the bottom of the existing receptacle. Down the line run attaches to the top connectors.

No matter which NEW gfi receptacle I've tried (6 different ones so far) I can't reproduce this same setup. Even attaching just the hot like to the bottom of the new receptacle doesn't result in a working receptacle. I see a green light but it doesn't power anything that I plug into it. I am completely confused why that would be. Am I doing something wrong? I pressed reset and test buttons and nothing. TIA for any advice.
Pics.
First is my wiring
Second are some of the receptacles I tried and bottom right is the original working one.
Third one is me trying but a regular non gfi plug and it does power the done the line plugs so it's something with the new GFI plugs I am trying to use.

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[Certaindeaf]

Does the old one work? Did it work?

 

[bababoris]

Does the old one work? Did it work?

Old one works. Just not the right shade of white according to my wife

 

[NeSeR13]

I'm a low voltage sparky. Not an expert on high voltage. Some guesses.

Grounding issue
Continuity issue
Line and load are rolled

Check the outlets with a multimeter to see what voltage you are getting.

 

[BWH]

Open nuetral in the string somewhere, loose wire nut, check the standard recepts to see if the seperator tab has been removed(where the wires screw down on the side next to the screws.

 

[RicInOR]

Some of the GFI have to be in the right place in the string. @ my mom's condo it would have been good to be over the counter - near toaster - but ended up on the wall by table.

I can't tell you how you know, sorry.

 

[Lilhigbee]

If you pushed Reset then Test, they still won't work. Push Test then Reset or just Reset and they should work. The Test button trips them just as if there was a problem. I believe they have to be wired in to reset. I also think they are all shipped tripped.

 

[Mike_M57]

Old one works. Just not the right shade of white according to my wife

Keep receptacle, swap wife...?


eta: Be careful with your words. You don't want to anger the wrong group!

 

[Provincial]

A GFCI receptacle will not work if it put in a circuit that shares a neutral. A shared neutral is common in older wiring where they saved cost by eliminating one wire to make two circuits.

Your eyes will probably glaze over long before you finish reading this, but I will try to explain why. Here is how it was done:
Power come into a residential home using three wires. There are two Hot wires that carry a voltage between themselves of 240 Volts. The third wire is the Neutral, which is grounded either back at the generator of somewhere in the distribution system. The current is Alternating Current, and the voltage rises and falls 60 times per second as the electrons move back and forth, toward and away from the power generator. As the voltage varies, it peaks at 120 Volts one direction, then drops through 0 Volts and then rises to 120 Volts in the other direction. Measured peak-to-peak, it is 240 Volts when the two Hot wires are used to make a circuit. Imagine three horizontal lines, with two uniform waves going up and down between the highest and lowest lines, each peaking opposite to the other. They cross each other at the center line. These lines are the peak voltage lines, and the center line is the zero voltage (Neutral) line.

120 Volt circuits consist of a Hot wire and a Neutral wire. The Neutral wire is always white if installed to Code. The Hot wire is colored, usually black, but it can be any other color except green, which is reserved for Ground wires. In all modern wiring, there is a green Ground wire that is run between the outlets and the circuit breaker panel for safety. Normally, each 120 Volt circuit will have a colored wire and a white wire that go back to the circuit breaker panel. At the panel, the colored wire is connected to one leg of the input and will give a maximum of 120 Volts to Neutral (and Ground). At the peak voltage, current is flowing through the Hot wire and back through the Neutral wire to the Neutral Bus in the panel. Further imagine that this is the top line and neutral. The current is flowing through the Neutral wire that direction half the time.

Now imagine a circuit using the lower line and neutral. The flow of current is the same, but going the other direction. The flow through the neutral wire is travelling the other direction.

Because of this, you can use the same neutral wire to carry two 120 Volt circuits as long as the Hot wires are connected to opposite input (Bus) wires at the panel. Further, if the load is balanced between the two circuits, the Neutral wire is carrying no current, because the two circuits are cancelling each other out and there are no electrons flowing. This only happens in theory, and normally there is some current flowing one direction or another, but never more than the wire is rated for.

The problem with GFCI protection is that the unit (in addition to the Hot circuit) is wired to both the Neutral and Ground circuits, and measures minute differences between the two. If you share the Neutral wire, it "confuses" the GFCI, and it will not allow current to flow. Sharing a Ground circuit could also confuse it.

Trace your wiring and make sure that the Hot and Neutral wires are making a circuit all the way back to the GFCI. It is also possible that someone split the outlets (by removing the separator tab in order to power the upper outlet from one circuit and the lower outlet from another. In this case, it is imperative that you are not sharing a Neutral wire and that the GFCI be wired to Hot, Neutral, and Ground wires that power the circuit that you want to power, without any interconnection to any other circuits.

Let us know what you find!