If your outdoor outlet is protected by a GFCI (it may not be physically located at that outlet to be protected, additional outlets can be protected by one "upstream" from it).

They also make (often short) extension cords with GFCI's built in that will provide similar protections.

Thanks! None of my indoor outlets look like the GFCI's I've seen in past homes, but someone said it's done at the circuit breaker box. House was built in 1985. Hope they knew what they were doing.

You can generally tell if it's done at the breaker box as one of your breakers has a TEST button on it. If you push the TEST button and the power to your outside receptacle goes, then you know you've got one.

The normal places older houses have for GFCI receptacles are in one of the bathrooms (my old house had it in the downstairs powder room), the unfinished basement, the garage, or one of the outside receptacles (my apartment had one on the balcony that did all the bathrooms too).

Judy-

It's probably unlikely that your house had GFCI protection installed in the breaker box. The fact that you have never had a circuit go out and had to be reset at the box is probably a good indication, as you would have noticed that the breaker looked different than the others. Aside from the issue of probably having no GFCI protection, what water/rain exposure exists at either end of the cord? Does the outdoor plugin have an approved cover that provides protection? Is the other end where the lights plug in under cover of an overhang? Is the cord lying on the ground where it might be in a puddle? Answers to these questions might help us better figure out what you can do that is safe...

Thanks, Ron. No TEST button. Not good, huh?

Thanks, Kudzu. The outdoor receptacle just has those individual covers that flip up to insert a plug. The extension cord is lying in wet grass, including where it meets the cords coming from the spiral trees. Not exactly a puddle, but as soaked as ground can get. What I've been doing is drying off the extension cord's plug, standing inside the house where it's dry and reaching outside to plug it in.

Go to the home center and buy one of these or something similar...http://www.homedepot.com/p/Tasco-2-ft-12-3-SJTW-15-Amp-In-Line-GFCI-with-Lighted-Power-Block-Blue-with-Yellow-Stripe-04-00105/203534128?cm_mmc=shopping--

Either that or install a GFCI receptacle there.

That presumes that the local authority was tracking the NEC. But still I suspect you're write it's hiding somewhere. It took me a long time to figure out there was even a receptacle out on my balcony let alone that was the GFCI for the entire unit.

It sounds like I need to worry that there are no GFCI's in the house at all. Is that right? Or are we talking about just the outdoor outlet? Does anyone know how I can tell if it's in the breaker box if there's no test button like Ron mentioned? I guess I'm confusing myself. House problems panic me because every time I hire someone to do some work here, it ends in a disaster. Contractors take one look at the old lady living alone and see dollar signs. I just had floors installed and the nightmare continues. Sorry. I digress.

If you had a GFCI breaker in the box, it would have a reset button -- probably colored -- and look like one of these:

GFCI breaker

There are millions of homes without GFCI protection, If you don't have any, it doesn't mean something is wrong with your house. It's just that, for certain circuits, like kitchens, baths, and outdoors, where you have water and electricity in close proximity, GFCI's provide additional protection from shock and electrocution.

OK. I feel better. Thanks. When I bought a small electric heater for my bathroom last year, I made sure it was specifically for bathrooms and it had a special plug. The link was really helpful. The breaker for my hot water heater has the symbol I saw in one of the photos but no color and no reset button. Every home I've owned had the kind that are part of the receptacles in the kitchen and bathroom.

If you have an electrician come out to put in a GFCI, they can test for whether it is already on one somewhere. While you have them there, I would have them put one on every exterior receptacle, at least one garage receptacle that is the most likely to be used, every bathroom receptacle, and any receptacles within 6' of the kitchen sink. This is not current code, but it takes care of the most important stuff. If the code makers had their way, every receptacle would be GFCI. But, old wiring is often not run in a manner that you can put one GFCI at the beginning of a circuit to protect all the other receptacles on the circuit. You would need to put a GFCI device in every outlet or change out a lot of breakers in the panel, which you could certainly do if you want to spend the extra money. If you go the breaker route, you may as well get breakers that are both GFCI and AFCI. Just a few GFCI receptacles would usually be the cheapest way to go. Bringing the whole house up to current codes for both AFCI and GFCI could get expensive, so I don't always suggest that unless a more major project was warranted.

Thanks, Fred. Sounds like a plan. There's always a to-do list, isn't there? Happy Holidays to you and to Ron and Kudzu.

One advantage of using multiple GFCIs is it makes the tripping issue either to trace and less annoying. Only the receptacle with the fault goes out when it trips.