How to test a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter)? I have one in the kitchen, installed new 20 years ago that has been trouble-free until this week, when it suddenly began tripping for unknown reasons. After reset, it my stay on line for minutes or hours or even days, and then will trip again seemingly without any known reason. This one is on a duplex receptacle, not a circuit breaker in the main entrance panel. I think they are supposed to trip upon a very small ground fault of only 0.005 amperes. Any ideas?
There are outlet testers that look like a large electrical plug, with three neon lights. The lights tell you if the outlet is wired correctly. Some of them have a button to test GFI outlets. If the GFI is working right, the GFI trips and the neon lights go dark. These should be available in any good hardware store, Home Depot, etc. The cost is around $10, I recall.
One odd thing that I have noted with this tester is that if there is more than one GFI in the circuit, both may trip. (I found this out testing the GFI outlet in my camper). This double trip does not occur with the test button on the GFI outlet.
I think that your recollection of the trip current is about right, so you could make your own trip tester with a resistor inside a plug. You could try different values to verify that your GFI outlet is not too sensitive.
Of course, if you are having problems, why not just replace the GFI outlet? They cost around $10 and take about 5 minutes to change. If the problem persists, you probably have a serious wiring problem or moisture in an electrical box. Actually, I suggest that you buy both a GFI tester and an outlet. The tester will not tell you if the GFI is too sensitive, only if it is functional.
Richard
David Anders> How to test a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter)?
Anything new on the circuit? I have an ice machine that used to trip a GFCI for reasons unknown. It would run for day, weeks or even months with no problems, then trip. Likely something was damp enough to conduct, but it was never a problem large enough over which I've been concerned. The machine has a ground wire and is still in service after well over 30 years. Sorry, I know next to nothing about the breakers.
Nope , that and other things and just replace it if nothing has changed. They can be over sensitive/weak over time.
At one time I had to go to LA to be trained on GFCI's and ahhh X-10's LOL I taught them more than they dreamed of.
Personally a 30 amp. breaker would be fine. 20 amp if your worried about it.
I don't know high voltage GFCI's , but in a house they are wired to the main bath, kitchen, and patio. I'm my case if I trip the patio I'm screwed even if the sheep are home cause they really don't want me in their house and I don't want to ether.
Hmmm push ahhh the LOL black one. Or is it the red? It will say test on it if ya look closely. If it has power and doesn't test you should look into it more.
Do you happen to have a refrigerator plugged into it -- or into another socket fed through the GFI socket? (In other words, do other outlets lose power when it trips?)
I did, and the fridge has a water cooler and automatic ice maker. Somewhere in the system (I suspect in the heating elements which are used during the defrost cycle) apparently some water got in, and the thing would trip the GFI every time it defrosted (on an automatic timer).
I first replaced the GFI outlet, and that one tripped as well.
The solution was to plug the fridge into another outlet which was *not* GFI protected. I was advised that a fridge should *not* be plugged into a GFI outlet -- but the contractors who had remodeled our house had put the fridge outlet onto the end of the chain from a GFI outlet, instead of the end of the chain on the other side which had no GFI (and was out of reach of the sink, where the major hazard was.)
As for testing -- there is the built-in test button on the outlet, and there are outlet testers which have neon lamps (or perhaps even LEDs these days) which tell you if some part is improperly connected hot when it should not be, or not a ground when it should be) and these also have a button which applies a test load to the GFI.
Note that all of these test devices are intended to verify that the GFI will trip when the minimum fault current is present, *not* to verify that it will *not* trip when a fault current below the threshold is present.
In an older house, who knows? Here, code requires a fridge or freezer be plugged into a duplex (!!) outlet on an otherwise unused breaker except that an electric clock may share the circuit.
If I had a smoke detector that went off every time I fried a steak... I'd get rid of the smoke detector. These devices are suppose to make life better, safer... they are not some kind of dictator to whom we must bow. Is the device pointing to a hazard to which we should be wary or is it just a mechanical device being a nuisance? A little judgment is warranted. Blind bowing to a stupid mechanical device is about as abhorrent as ignoring a warning of significant danger.
The advice was through one of the appliance repair sites. I have not yet dug up the manual for the fridge, though I suspect that it will say to not plug into a GFI outlet.
GFI outlets are intended to protect light duty appliances -- the sort of thing which might fall into the sink while dishwashing (and which typically don't even have a ground pin on their plugs). They are
*not* made to protect the heavier (and relatively immobile) appliances, which are expected to be properly grounded to start with. (Remember that the GFIs wind up floating the protective ground, and the fridge has a secondary ground though the icemaker water feed pipe.)
If a *serious* fault occurs in the fridge, it will trip the circuit breaker. A minor leakage through condensation on the defrost heater or something like that is not a problem requiring shutting down the fridge without warning and letting a lot of food spoil.
A GFCI Outlet trips on a 3ma leakage, and that's pretty darned small.
Refrigerators can cause small ground fault leaks that would cause a nuisance trip of the GFCI and have nothing at all wrong with them. And if you've ever opened a refrigerator that was full of food and had the power tripped off for two weeks, you would agree - the term "gag a maggot" certainly applies.
BT, DT, got the dry heaves - luckily this was /before/ lunch, or it would have been a "Technicolor Yawn"...
Sorry, you are wrong. You should not require a smoke alarm in a room with a normal smoke source (like the kitchen) in the first place.
And this is also why you shouldn't put bedroom doors opening directly off the kitchen, forcing this difficult design problem. ;-) We had to add a pocket door to make a 4' square "hall" in front of that door during a remodel, so you could isolate the 'outside each bedroom door' smoke alarm from the kitchen.
Sorry, it was spot on. A refrigerator is a permanently installed appliance, which can be on a dedicated circuit (preferably) or a mixed-use circuit, and should not require a GFCI even if right next to the sink. And if some stupid inspector insisted on it, I would gladly install a separate GFCI just for that one outlet to satisfy him...
And then switch it right back to 'not protected' as soon as the Final Inspection was signed off and the inspector would never be back. Sheer stupidity.
Same thing for refrigerators and freezers in the garage - install a single receptacle (a duplex only if there are two appliances) on a separate circuit, up high (out of the reach of children) marked "Dedicated Receptacle - No GFCI Protection - Appliance Only"
PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.