myredracer wrote:
Whatever you find the cause to be, please post it!
OP here.
I now know that the GFCI outlet did not simply trip, it failed. I say this because when I got curious and opened up the GFCI outlet to see what was happening inside, I found a bit of black soot and a couple of parts burned loose from the little printed circuit.
I can only conclude that the way the GFCI failed caused it to leak voltage to the ground wire, enough for the GFCI and other outlets down the line to show hot and ground reversed and for my digital multi-meter to show 120 volts. As others have said, probably a negligible amount of amps could have passed through if I had applied more of a load to the ground-neutral wires down the line.
This would also seem to explain why outlets and devices in the circuit prior to the failed GFCI were still working normally.
I have not yet replaced the GFCI outlet to verify that a new one will do the job, but I now see no reason to think that there may be another problem. Without the failed GFCI in the circuit, everything works and tests normally. In the unlikely event that problems continue after I install a new GFCI outlet, I will update this thread.
Wayne
