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GFCI in Barn

J

Jiles

Well-known Member
I have a few Square D GFCI breakers in my barn, not the homeowners type, and one in particular will trip every few months.
It will only reset after removal of wires or disconnected from bus bar. After reset, works fine for like 6 months to a year.
Does this indicate a faulty breaker
 
I would try replacing it and hang onto the old one until I was confident the problem was fixed. I have one that trips with an impact wrench I have, but it is fine in the others. It only trips with the impact.
 
I agree with Phil, replace it but keep the old one and see what happens. I think they get dirty inside and it can cause them to trip too
easy. If the new one trips you have a wiring or appliance problem.
 
I would get a spare, then try that.

I had then tripping in my shop, found out I had a faulted underground conductor in yard, do not remember if hot or neutral one.
 
A GFCI breaker or receptacle both work the same way as far as the ground fault feature goes. It measures current on the hot wire and the neutral, and if they differ by more than 5 milliamps, then the GFCI trips. You could try replacing the breaker, or even swapping breakers. If you still have the problem on that circuit then it is something on the circuit causing the problem, not the breaker.
 
(quoted from post at 12:54:09 04/03/18) I have a few Square D GFCI breakers in my barn, not the homeowners type, and one in particular will trip every few months.
It will only reset after removal of wires or disconnected from bus bar. After reset, works fine for like 6 months to a year.
Does this indicate a faulty breaker
Click to expand...

You said you had a few of them. Try swapping it with the other one and emsee if the other one trips..
Have you noticed if it happens after a hard rain or snow?
 
(quoted from post at 22:37:15 04/03/18)
(quoted from post at 12:54:09 04/03/18) I have a few Square D GFCI breakers in my barn, not the homeowners type, and one in particular will trip every few months.
It will only reset after removal of wires or disconnected from bus bar. After reset, works fine for like 6 months to a year.
Does this indicate a faulty breaker
Click to expand...

You said you had a few of them. Try swapping it with the other one and emsee if the other one trips..
Have you noticed if it happens after a hard rain or snow?
Click to expand...

Tripped last night.
This breaker has six receptacles with none of them operating anything.
 

Swap that breaker with an equal rated one you have.
Then If that circuit still trips the breaker you have a problem downstream.
Or maybe corroded lugs where breaker is in panel or corroded connection downstream. Or loose connection downstream.
Is that circuit romex or conduit?
 
GFCI devices are generally not tolerant of inductive loads. The description of the fault occurrence, being occasional, would lead me to test them under the various conditions that might be seen. It could very likely be a motor starting under a load.
 
Not knocking those breakers but the few times we tried using them they were way more bother than they are worth. We tried on the pool,bathroom and kitchen. They were such a pain they are now all gone and never had a problem since. Those that are really afraid of electricity well good luck hope you get it figured out.
 
(quoted from post at 12:54:09 04/03/18) I have a few Square D GFCI breakers in my barn, not the homeowners type, and one in particular will trip every few months.
It will only reset after removal of wires or disconnected from bus bar. After reset, works fine for like 6 months to a year.
Does this indicate a faulty breaker
Click to expand...

I have one in my barn that will trip 2-3 times a year during or after a strong rain event. It is on the list.
 
People in this country tend to go off the deep end with safety. Using the GFCI is a miserable device. It causes people loose food in refrigerators and freezers. If you try to use a tool such as an air compressor you have about a 40% chance that it will work. If people would just use their head and not stand in a puddle of water and operate tools or appliances it would be an incredibly rare occurrence the GFCI would be needed. Maybe when they start implanting computer devices in peoples heads they might start thinking for themselves again.
 

Anyone dullwitted enough to place a fridge , freezer , sump pump or smoke/CO detector on an AFCI or GFCI circuit . They deserve all the trouble they get .
 
(quoted from post at 12:24:59 04/04/18)
Anyone dullwitted enough to place a fridge , freezer , sump pump or smoke/CO detector on an AFCI or GFCI circuit . They deserve all the trouble they get .
Click to expand...

Or when they do "have trouble" with a gfci outlet, they deem it to be a nuisance and install a regular outlet.

Maybe the gfci "trouble" is telling you there is a real problem with the wiring.
 
That's true but a lot of places it is code that in a garage all receptacles be GFCI. Then when a homeowner buys a house they often put a refrigerator or freezer in the garage and the general public doesn't know how sensitive they are. I had a customer call me one Sunday afternoon in a panic because their freezer quit and they couldn't get any power out the outlet. I had to go 50 miles to find out the GFCI wouldn't let the freezer work anymore. I would reset it and it would almost immediately trip. I just replaced the GFCI with a normal outlet and they had no more problems. There garage was very dry so I couldn't see any danger in it.
 
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