I have a contractor come in to do some tile work and he had taken out some GFCI outlets. I think he must have used a power drill to loosen the screws and one of the green, ground screw fell off. It would not go back in. Now I have 2 GFCI outlets with no ground.
It seems the screw is supposed to screw in a small plate inside the outlet, like a screw into a nut. As the screw is completely off, it is not connected to anything. Is there a way to fix that?
I managed to fix it!
It seems there is also a little hole for Push-In ground wire and meant to be tighten with screw. The push-in hole gave me an opportunity. I first line up the inside and outside holes by gently shaking the receptacle. And then I insert a needle, in-lieu of the ground wire, through the push-in hole to apply pressure to the small holed plate from the inside. Finally, I screw in the screw. Good as new!
Look at the end of the screw if it is flaired it was designed not to come out and without filing the end down that screw may not go back in. The big box stores normally carry green grounding screws that have a small cut on the tip this helps to form threads. I usually buy them by the 100's But I think I remember seeing small packs with 5 -10 for a dollar or two. These can be used to replace the screw that was removed.
