GFCI receptical problems

Butch(OH)

Well-known Member
Since electric grounding is always a hot topic here I was a bit hesitant to ask but I have a GFCI problem that has my electrician stumped (and me but that doesnt take much). Kinda long winded read, sorry.
Over the last year we have upgraded the entire service to our old farm house from the meter base to 99% of the wiring throughout the house and barns. All work preformed by same licensed electrician. Problem we are having is we have GFCI receptacles (2) in the kitchen and bathroom. They have never tripped while in use but will be found tripped while not being used. This could be once a week or once a month, never twice in a given day, never both at the same time. They are on separate circuits and are the lone load on those circuits. Electrician has preformed whatever testing they would do and had another guy come out and both are scratching their heads. They can find no faults or fault currents and have even rerun the wiring from the panel to those receptacles. We have been keeping a log of sorts trying to make rhyme or reason out of it such as weather, what's being used etc but nothing so far is sticking out. Anyone care to add some direction to our search?
Thanks in advance!!
 
It would be interesting (and not REAL expensive) to replace them with units by another manufacturer and see what happens.
 
I will assume you either have some defective GFCI duplexes . . or . . too much wire hooked to them. If How many other duplexes are protected by one GFCI duplex? Excessive wire runs can cause capacitance that can trip GFCIs. That all said, I replaced three 15 amp Levington GFCIs this year in a house only 5 years old. It was doing the same. They never tripped while in use. Just often found them tripped in the morning and nothing was plugged into them.
 


http://www.mikeholt.com/mojonewsarch...t~20020610.htm
I think you already know there's a grounding problem,I'm not sure if anyone off site can tell you exactly where and how. Check out the above link for helpful details regarding "objectionable current" and I believe it will help you find the trouble.
 
Thanks all,
Ya,it wouldn't be all that expensive to replace them and see what happens.

There are only two GFCI in the house. They are almost right above the panel in the basement so maybe 15 feet at the most from the panel. Wire is 12-2 w/g, as I said no other loads on those circuits beside the receptacles.
 
I have GFCI in bathroom. Sometimes when I turn ventilation fan off the GFCI will trip, reverse EMF. GFCI sometimes don't like motors. Drill press in shop will randomly trip GFCI. Remove anything with a motors and see what happens.
 
I would suggest this also. I work as a Maintenance Director at a retirement center and have had this same problem. Replaced them with a quality brand GFCI and problem solved. I purchased them from my electrical supplier so don't recall the brand name.
 
>I have GFCI in bathroom. Sometimes when I turn ventilation fan off the GFCI will trip, <
DANG!!! I HAVE THE EXACT SAME ISSUE WITH A FAN IN OUR LOWER BATHROOM!
 
Mornin Butch, I like your comment "Since electric grounding is always a hot topic here " lol Indeed electrical or legal questions usually draw more response then any other topic, everybody crawls out of the woodwork (me included) and by golly they know more then the NEC or OSHA and have the "answer". However if you notice (I been here over 15 yrs) there's usually far less to no disagreement among trained professional electricians, technicians and engineers. HMMMMMMMMMM wonder why lol The thing about "grounding" as you call it is most good gents who arent trained experienced professional electricians DO NOT understand the difference in Neutral Ground BONDING versus GROUNDING versus what constitutes a GROUNDING ELECTRODE and EARTH GROUNDING and the time and place for creating a MADE ELECTRODE by driving a rod into mother earth, and FLOATING VERSUS NON FLOATING NEUTRALS on and on and on. They all think by golly drive a "ground rod" and that will cure all make everything safe and and save your life, when there are situations where driving that rod (portable gensets feeding plug and cord connected tools from onboard receptacles) CAN CREATE AN ELECTROCUTION HAZARD !!!!!!!!!!!!! YIKES dont take my word for it, but the NEC and OSHA may just have it more accurate then how Billy Bob and Bubba and your know it all brother in law tell you HMMMMMMM If your life is at stake, which "expert" are you gonna trust????????????

DONE WITH RANT SORRY LOL

It's been my experience when you go to BIG BOX STORE and buy the cheapest GFCI's their quality isn't anything to brag about as compared to an electrical supply house, just sayin, so if the wire run isn't excessive and there's not a bunch of other circuits or downstream feeds fed off the load side of the GFCI, you might try another product.

The thing is however, even with a good GFCI it only takes around 5 milliamps amps of leakage current to cause a trip. That's very little current and yes they are sensitive, but that's because the heart could fibrilalte with maybe 30 to 50+ milliamps. If they werent that sensitive they may not save your life. If a GFCI is tripping (assuming its workign right) the current returned by the Grounded Conductor (Neutral) is ONLY 0.005 amps LESS then the current flowing out the Ungrounded (HOT) Conductor SO ITS LEAKING AND FLOWING ELSEWHERE. If the wiring out the panel to the GFCI is all good and theres no leakage at the GFCI or its connections or anywhere downstream, a quality GFCI shouldnt be tripping. TRY ANOTHER BRAND

Sorry for the rant but safety can someones life. Yall have a safe and happy Fourth of July, God Bless America

John T
 
I think if you have different GFCI outlets on different circuits tripping you have a systemic problem rather than defective outlets. You might try a different electrician. I think your guy has done something wrong somewhere.
 
I have had them trip if the wires were not properly folded back into the box and putting pressure on the GFCI. Other than that I can't add anything that hasn't already been said.
 
The coil in fan motor generates a reverse emf the GFCI doesn't like. I hear my GFCI trip and the lights go off at the same time. Perhaps A surge suppresser may work, but I don't care.

geo
 
My old 900 MHz cellular phone would trip GFCI's, have also seen capacitors on equipment trip them
 
I agree with others suggesting to change brand. I had the same problem in my basement bathroom that I wired. The GFCI randomly popped. I believe the brand was Eagle. I changed brands and I have not had one pop again in over 5 years and yes I have checked with GFCI tester. The brand that I have that works is Leviton.
 
Butch,
Here is a solution no one has mentioned. Install a GFCI breaker instead of a GFCI receptical. I installed one in 1985 in a rental. The only time it trips is when someone plugs something in to it in the bathroom that has an issue. Not cheap, around $50. This will isolate the GFCI away from any water or moisture problem you may have around existing GFCI.

If breaker trips, then you definitely have an issue with wiring or regular recepts.

Here are other things I think no one has mentioned. I've had an issue with ants getting inside GFCI. I've had issues with mice chewing on the wiring causing neutral to touch ground. I've had lightning coming from a metal outside light fixture, shorting neutral to ground.

I may not be a EE, but I've had a lifetime of experience of seeing what can go wrong.

Try a breaker and report back.
geo.
 
The trouble with that is cost. He can buy two GFIs and still have twenty bucks left. Another problem is many people have trouble with breakers tripping as compared to realizing to reset a GFI outlet. Some will call an electrician needlessly not realized the GFI breaker tripped.
 
sportster, Yes they are expensive, around $50. The first thing a good electricians should have done is replaced the GFCI. So his electricians can't figure out what's wrong, then he should try the breaker. I'm guessing someone may have skinned a wire when the house was rewired or a mouse chewed off the insulation, or lightning damaged a wire inside the house.

Which is cheaper an electrician's service call or a $50 breaker? Most service calls in my start around $95 just to show up.

His electrician can't figure out the problem, right? geo
 
If it's that's simple, why did his electrician just change them out? Is he simple too or his electrician BUBBA?
 
I don't know why his electrician did not change them out . If anything gives you a problem it will be electronics not hardwired electrical work. I would have replaced GFIs .
 

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