I also have ceiling lights that are connected to this circuit. What do I do in that case?

My Sperry GFCI outlet tester indicates that the GFCI outlet is wired properly.

Do electrician have a leak detection tool? Will the be able to isolate the problem in a reasonable amount of time? The click is very infrequent so without any dedicated tools I don't see an efficient way to isolate the problem.

Also why is the GFCI outlet clicking rather than tripping completely?

So many questions....

 

Shouldn't make any difference, you still want to isolate the circuits in sections till you figure out what circuit is causing the problem.

 

I also have ceiling lights that are connected to this circuit. What do I do in that case?

See above reply.

My Sperry GFCI outlet tester indicates that the GFCI outlet is wired properly.

Good but doesn't help you with the problem.

Do electrician have a leak detection tool?

Yes!

Will the be able to isolate the problem in a reasonable amount of time?

Impossible to answer.

The click is very infrequent so without any dedicated tools I don't see an efficient way to isolate the problem.

I explained how to do it without any test equipment other than a screwdriver. If you are uncomfortable with removing an outlet then you really need to bite the bullet and call an electrician.

Also why is the GFCI outlet clicking rather than tripping completely?

Have no idea, could be just a bad GFI outlet.

 

How does the leak detection tester work and what does it look like? Is it something that is just plugged into an outlet and a reading is measured?

I can certainly open/replace outlets as needed. In fact when I moved into my house I replaced every single outlet and light switch in the house since they were so old.

The four Casablanca fan/light switches in each of my bedrooms used to be only only controlled by an on/off switch. Now they are controlled by dedicated Casablanca switches that have dimmer & fan speed control features. These four switches were installed by the electrician. The lights/fans were already there and they are probably 5-6 years old at most. I have replaced all of the bulbs in the fan fixtures with LED bulbs and in two of them I actually had to replace the light fixture components (a DIY job) so that they would accept standard A19 LED bulbs.

Below is a list of what is connected to the entire circuit. Some time last Spring I decided to create a laminated sheet of what is connected to each circuit breaker and velcro'd it onto the inside door of the electrical panel for easy reference:

LIGHTS:
- Second floor hallway lights (basically a pair of LED bulbs equivalent to 60 watts)
- Master bedroom ceiling fan/lights (with four 60-watt equivalent LED bulbs)
- Bedroom #2... ceiling fan/lights (with four 60-watt equivalent LED bulbs)
- Bedroom #3.... ceiling fan/lights (with four 60-watt equivalent LED bulbs)

OUTLETS:
- Master bedroom behind bed (two alarm clocks, two table lamps, portable invisible dog fence transmitter)
- Master bedroom - two other outlets with nothing plugged into them
- Bedroom #3..... all five outlets (only things plugged in are a sleep noise maker, baby monitor, and CD radio)
- Bedroom 2..... all four outlets (only thing plugged in is a CD radio)
- Bedroom 4...... one outlet (nothing plugged in)
- Master bathroom GFCI outlet on RHS of bathroom counter

I know it seems like a lot but in the morning when everyone is asleep, the only things really functioning are the fans (when needed), the alarm clocks, the baby monitor, and the dog fence transmitter).

I have a feeling that the GFCI out on the RHS of the bathroom counter was installed after the original wiring was done because there is already an outlet on the LHS of the sink but because the sink is left-justified with respect to the counter I feel the owners didn't like the position of it.

It should be noted that the wire coming into the RHS GFCI outlet is 12 gauge instead of 14. It should also be noted that prior to us moving into the house, this bathroom had no GFCI outlets at all nor GFCI breakers in the panel).

I suppose the first step to narrow down this problem is to turn off all fans/lights and sit in the bathroom listening and noting the frequency of the click. Once I establish any sort of pattern (predicable hopefully) I suppose I should start unplugging one item from an outlet at a time.

This could take days/weeks.

 

This could take days/weeks.

Yep, either you pay with money or time.

First thing I would do is unplug the dog fence.

 

Actually, I think this clicking sound had nothing to do with the GFCI outlet. And I was wrong about the overhead bathroom recessed lights being connected to that outlet as well. I only found that out this morning.

What I did this weekend was think long and hard about what has "changed" in my bathroom in the four years since I bought the house. That's when I recalled replacing 90% of the bulbs in my house (A19s, BR30s, BR40s) with Philips LED bulbs last Fall. This included the two overhead recessed BR40 14.5W bulbs (65W equivalent) over the bathroom counter right above the GFCI outlet.

Using the old incandescent 65W bulbs still stored in my attic I replaced the two LED bulbs with the incandescent bulbs and haven't heard the clicking sound since. I even put the old GFCI outlet back in this morning (it was only about 4 years old anyway) so I could return the unnecessary replacement.

Is this just sheer coincidence or would a malfunctioning LED bulb cause such a clicking sound, causing me to think it was the GFCI outlet all along? The fixtures for these recessed lights are probably original (circa 1982) so they may have a compatibility issue with LED bulbs.

 

Hadn't heard of LED bulbs clicking. Have you tried putting the bulb in a different fixture, where maybe you can keep an eye (and ear) on it?

Anyway good detective work. I can almost see the forehead-slapping moment.

 

Well its been two weeks and still no clicking sound. It must have been the LED bulbs or the fixture not liking the bulbs or some other combination of the two. I am going to put in a different pair of LED bulbs and see if the problem returns. Will follow up.

BTW...LED bulbs are known to have at least one other compatibility issue. When I tried putting an A19 bulb in my garage door opener light bulb socket, the door would sometimes not open (when triggered from the car) and other times it would randomly open on its own. This is a Liftmaster opener installed professionally in 2013.

All of my LED bulbs are Philips brand.