Heat element & shore gfci
Hello Shore gfci questions here. Like many others I now have an issue when plugged into shore power gfci at home (I've used this same outlet for 5+ yrs and tried another circuit to confirm this out...
Forum Discussion
Bobbo wrote:
Yep. That is THE classic cause of a ground fault. Turning on the electric element in the water heater without water in the tank almost instantly ruins the heating element. The heating element then makes contact with ground. That NEUTRAL/GROUND contact trips the GFCI every time. Your solution is to replace the heating element in the water heater. The breaker being on or off doesn't matter. The short is between NEUTRAL and GROUND, and neither one is disconnected by a breaker.
Sorry, When a Water Heater Element "Blows", there is NO CONTAC to a ground source. The Blown part looks like a small weld slag on the element. What DOES cause a GFCI to trip is the IMBALANCE of current between the Neutral and HOT. So, When the Current tries to flow thru the Heat element, the blown element causes an imbalance, of current and the GFCI sees this as a Short to Ground. I have found very few 120 Water Heaters connected to a GFCI, but it makes sense to have it connected to a GFCI. Doug
