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Electrical Question

992 Views | 11 Replies | Last: 1 day ago by EliteElectric
CowtownAg06
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AG
Got a problem that at my country house that has been stumping me and builder/electrician friends, so wanted to see what the wise OB thought.

All, and I mean all, my GFCI outlets are tripping. Not at the breakers but at the actual plugs. I reset them and then and some will stay good for a week and some will stay good for 30 min and then re trip. Any thoughts that could cause this across the house? I'm not there full time, so haven't been able to do more extensive trouble shooting.
Jason_Roofer
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Have you replaced them? I yanked all of mine out and put standards outlets in. If it's really a wet area, I add the GFI at the breaker. I hate the Rinkydink outlet gfi.
Infinity Roofing - https://linqapp.com/jason_duke --- JasonDuke@InfinityRoofer.com --- https://infinityrooferjason.blogspot.com/
CowtownAg06
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AG
They are all about 3 years old. I'd believe it for one or two, but not all of them.
Gunny456
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AG
I had a similar issue. Figured out that the ones that were tripping were on one single circuit so when one would trip they all would. Electrician guy said that was the way it's supposed to be but that more than likely one of them had gone bad and when it tripped all on the circuit would also.
He tested them and found the bad one, replaced it, and now all ok.
CowtownAg06
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AG
hmm these are very sperad out so I don't know if that's it... but worth checking for sure.
Hoosegow
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Yank them out and put regular ones in. Safety schmafety.
swampstander
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AG
I would check your house ground. Might have a loose connection in the panel or on the ground rod (rods).
swampstander

2ndChanceAg96
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AG
Yeah, I would make sure the ground at the main and the house is good. If that doesn't work then try to replace one and see what happens.
redaszag99
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Gfci montitors potential difference between hot and neutral. Check to make sure all neutral connections are tight.

When it rains, my Christmas lights trip my gfci plugs. Do you have something plugged into them that has a short or gets wet.

I know treadmills are bad about tripping afci but not sure about gfci
UnderoosAg
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AG
redaszag99 said:

Gfci montitors potential difference between hot and neutral. Check to make sure all neutral connections are tight.



That.

The motor drive causes common mode noise that makes the AFCI think it's seeing an arc. Usually isn't an issue with a GFCI.

OP,
How many GFCIs do you have and where? 3 year old house? Should have two in kitchen, one in garage, and one or two in bathrooms. For it to start after 3 years either the device(s) failed or something popped loose.
CowtownAg06
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AG
I'm going off memory but, 3 in the kitchen (including the Dish Washer outlet), 2 in master bath, 1 in the other baths, 1 by a sink in the laundry room, and then all the outdoor outlets (maybe 6). There is also one by the pool.

The pool is actually a converted shipping container and has an electric cover on it. About 9 months ago it started started to trip all the time. It's not on an outlet, but would trip the breaker it's tied into (only thing on that breaker). I had to replace the breaker but it has kept tripping. It's easy enough to reset that breaker. In the past it would just trip that breaker and nothing else, but I wonder it that is what's causing the issues in the rest of the house.
EliteElectric
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If you had a nearby lightning ground strike it could have damaged them all, and if that's the case they all need to be replaced.

Couple quick points here-

1. GFI's tripping is often times them "doing their job" and saving you from electrocution. Sometimes they are simply "working" and not being a nuisance.

2. 20 amp GFI's are far superior to the cheap 15 amp builder grade. Usually builder's electrical subs use the cheapest products they can buy, the electronics on those cheap devices fail. Often.

3. If there is more than 4 milliamps feeding back on the ground or neutral the device will trip, and that could also be causing the nuisance tripping.

An easy method to prove disprove the wiring issue is to go buy something like this

https://store.hubbell.com/product/557774

and replace the one that trips the most. If that holds it's not the wiring. If that's the case I would replace all of the GFI's with 20a quality devices.
www.elitellp.net/

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