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DarkSkySeeker's avatar
DarkSkySeeker
Explorer
Jul 01, 2021

GFI Breaker

So I warned the GF not to plug in 5 appliances to the outlets in the kitchen. She did anyway and the plugs stopped working, including the kitchen, living room, and outside plugs. All of the dead plugs are labelled "Ground Fault Protected" but none have resets or test buttons.

Turns out the bedroom and TV outlets are on their own circuit. The bathroom has a GFCI plug that tests, resets, and works independently of this problem.

A lot of the rest of this post is guesswork.

So I opened up my breaker panel and there is a 15amp circuit labelled "GFI" (no "C"). I bought another breaker ($25) and replaced it and the "failed" circuits continued to not work.

About an hour later, mysteriously, they were on.

Here's the real guesswork...

The contacts on the old breaker looked bent. While on there was continuity but I could not tell if power was getting to it through the bent contacts. I can not explain the hour long delay before power was restored. Some sort of reset process/lag?

Your thoughts?
  • enblethen's avatar
    enblethen
    Nomad
    Jul 01, 2021
    I am guessing you have another GFCI receptacle.
    The breaker you replaced, was it a true GFI breaker or was it just a single pole breaker. GFI breakers have a reset button.
  • DarkSkySeeker's avatar
    DarkSkySeeker
    Explorer
    Jul 01, 2021
    enblethen wrote:
    I am guessing you have another GFCI receptacle.
    The breaker you replaced, was it a true GFI breaker or was it just a single pole breaker. GFI breakers have a reset button.


    I don't really know the answers to your good questions. All I did was replace the GFI breaker with a single pole breaker. The breaker panel lists this particular breaker as GFI. We looked high and low for a resetable outlet, and never reset anything since we couldn't find it.
  • Roger10378's avatar
    Roger10378
    Explorer II
    Jul 01, 2021
    5 appliances on a circuit will not trip the GFCI they will trip the breaker if the load is too much. The breaker labeled GFI is supplying the GFCI. Did you check the outside outlet for GFCI? In many cases that one supplies some of the other circuits.
  • DarkSkySeeker's avatar
    DarkSkySeeker
    Explorer
    Jul 01, 2021
    Roger10378 wrote:
    5 appliances on a circuit will not trip the GFCI they will trip the breaker if the load is too much. The breaker labeled GFI is supplying the GFCI. Did you check the outside outlet for GFCI? In many cases that one supplies some of the other circuits.


    Thanks for the response. The GFCI in the bathroom does not go off when the circuit labelled GFI is off.

    She had an ice maker, a small dorm sized freezer and a coffee pot all on at the same time.
  • enblethen's avatar
    enblethen
    Nomad
    Jul 01, 2021
    Double check the galley area for another GFCI receptacle
    If you paid $25 for a single pole breaker, you got ripped off! There is nothing special about RV breakers!
  • Yosemite_Sam1's avatar
    Yosemite_Sam1
    Explorer
    Jul 01, 2021
    Permanent solution, change gF! LOL

    Mine keeps on turning on appliances and hair dryer at the same time.

    And too many USBs and octopus connections to the cigarette that it blew the fuse on our trailer puller.

    Too bad I married her and divorce is more expensive.
  • Dusty_R's avatar
    Dusty_R
    Explorer
    Jul 01, 2021
    GFI = Ground Fault Interrupter Is what they were called when they first came out/were required.
    GFCI = Ground Fault Current is what they are now called, there maybe a slight difference.
    A GFCI receptacle is most often the first receptacle on a circuit then all the other receptacle down the line are also GFCI protected, if properly wired.
  • Gdetrailer's avatar
    Gdetrailer
    Explorer III
    Jul 01, 2021
    enblethen wrote:
    Double check the galley area for another GFCI receptacle
    If you paid $25 for a single pole breaker, you got ripped off! There is nothing special about RV breakers!


    Those are Eaton BD1515 Duplex or "twin" breakers, and are two breakers built into one full size housing.



    Allows one to add more circuits to the breaker box than single full size breakers would have allowed. Works in boxes not designed for half size breakers.

    They are more expensive than if you used a single full size breaker and $25 is not out of line..

    Same one is selling for $22.63 at Amazon HERE, add in taxes and possibly shipping it would be right around $25..

    Nothing special about that breaker, it is not a GFCI breaker and somewhere down the wiring line there is most likely a GFCI since the panel label mentions it..
  • BB_TX's avatar
    BB_TX
    Nomad
    Jul 01, 2021
    Dusty R wrote:
    GFI = Ground Fault Interrupter Is what they were called when they first came out/were required.
    GFCI = Ground Fault Current is what they are now called, there maybe a slight difference.
    A GFCI receptacle is most often the first receptacle on a circuit then all the other receptacle down the line are also GFCI protected, if properly wired.

    Actually GFCI means ground fault circuit interrupter. They do not trip on over current. They trip if there is a ground fault (basically an abnormal leak of current to ground) in that circuit, as little as 5 ma.

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