GFCI ground causes breaker to trip?
Fred Munkachy
last year
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Fred Munkachy
last yearRelated Discussions
Electric Fence: circuit breaker trips when ground is connected
Comments (7)Plenty of if's, and's, and but's, but you can be creative on your grounding, but I wouldn't try it with an AC charger. If lightning strikes your fence and the charger isn't grounded, your house wiring will take the hit. I use solar and battery operated chargers with the 1 ft ground stake but my fences are no more than 600 meters long and the ground is moist. Lightning strikes ruin only the charger (if the lightning kits don't work). For me, AC chargers aren't worth the hassel of installing them to a standard that will keep your insurance rates reasonable and damages fixed by the insurance company if something happens. Dave...See MoreWhy did the GFCI and breaker not trip?
Comments (7)No. If you reverse line/load, the result is that all "downstream" receptacles are protected, but the one with the GFCI built-in becomes a regular, un-protected outlet. Think about it. The built-in outlet is paralleled internally to the LOAD terminals, while the LINE terminals are connected through the GFCI's switch contacts. Everything is AC, so a mismatch of current will have the same effect, regardless of direction. That effect is simply to open the contacts. As to why the breaker didn't trip in the original poster's case: The screw touched the hot wire, but that screw was not grounded. The OP states that "I originally did not attached the ground to the box, just too themselves." - clearly the screw was NOT grounded. With the screw/box not grounded, there was no "short" or overcurrent, therefore the breaker did not trip. I believe the GFCI should have tripped at the time of the shock, but it is indeed possible that the current was high enough to be felt but still below the trip point of the GFCI....See MoreNearby Lightning causes only one GFI breaker to trip.
Comments (5)It could be as simple as the opener circuits are longer and further off the ground surface, allowing for higher coupling in to the lines, or the GFCI device itself being more exposed. The electric field drives the strike from cloud to earth, but the large currents involved once current flows in the strike generate vary large magnetic fields. These fields induce currents in any conductor they intersect with. It does not matter if you have a static magnetic field and a moving conductor, or a varying magnetic field an a fixed conductor. A voltage is induced in the conductor based on the magnetic field strength, rate of change, and orientation of the conductor relative to the field. If the GFCI device itself is in the magnetic field it can have transients induced in its own circuitry, independent of anything in any wires hooked to it. The magnetic field could even couple into the magnetic pickup in the GFCI and cause the electronics to be saturated briefly and not operate correctly. Since GFCIs trip at around 0.005 amps (5 milliamps) of current difference sensed using a magnetic pickup (a toroid) between the hot and neutral they are very sensitive....See MoreGFCI Breaker tripping with ozzing tyoe goo
Comments (1)Could be some antioxide compound. The first thing to do is remove the load wire (the black typically) wire going to the breaker and then see if you can reset it. If you can, you've likely got a ground fault somewhere. If you can't then the breaker is probably defective. If you can reset the breaker, make sure that the white wire from the circuit is connected to the appropriate screw on the breaker and for most GFCI breakers the white (often coiled) pigtail is connected to the grounded bus bar. Once you do that you'll need to divide and conquer on the circuits involved. Disconnect all the loads. Look in boxes for things like ground and neutrals possibly touching or wires touching another circuit....See MoreFred Munkachy
last yearFred Munkachy
last yearkudzu9
last year
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