Ground fault

[kg1d_dx]

I have a ground fault outlet on each circuit in my coach, but I keep frying the one in the bathroom. Happens when the circuit is over loaded usually by my wife's hair dryer. My question is why does the ground fault pop? The breaker does not trip. Could this be caused by the wrong amperage ground fault outlet?

[ktmrfs]

tropical36 wrote:

kg1d dx wrote:
I have a ground fault outlet on each circuit in my coach, but I keep frying the one in the bathroom. Happens when the circuit is over loaded usually by my wife's hair dryer. My question is why does the ground fault pop? The breaker does not trip. Could this be caused by the wrong amperage ground fault outlet?

A ground fault will obviously trip the GFI outlet itself.
Over current will trip the circuit breaker that's feeding it.
For some reason, using 15amp outlets on 20amp circuits is a common practice, acceptable and evidently legal, so a 15amp outlet being fed with #13awg wire and protected by a 20amp breaker, drawing close to 20amps and without fault, could very well do some cooking, without tripping anything and given that it's the weakest link in the chain.

If the circuit is 20A, it must be feed with wire capable of handling 20A, so commonly that means #12 romex. And a 15A outlet will only accept devices rated at 15A or less. anything drawing over 15A temporary or about 12A continous must have a 20A plug or be wired to a 20A circuit.

you commonly have a handful of 15A duplex outlets on one 15A breaker. running it from a 20A breaker is (or at least was) to code and very common. Allows more than 15A total draw, but no more than 15A from any single outlet or 20A from a duplex outlet.

[ktmrfs]

tenbear wrote:

kg1d dx wrote:
I have a ground fault outlet on each circuit in my coach, but I keep frying the one in the bathroom. Happens when the circuit is over loaded usually by my wife's hair dryer. My question is why does the ground fault pop? The breaker does not trip. Could this be caused by the wrong amperage ground fault outlet?

Lets look at the function of a GFI.

The GFI looks for current flowing in the ground wire of the 120v circuit. There should be no current in that wire. If the GFI senses a current in the ground wire, it trips, shutting off the power to the circuit. It has nothing to do with the current flowing in the hot or neutral wires. That is the function of the circuit breaker.

Edit: Actually, I think it senses the difference in current between the hot wire and the neutral.

yes, it does sense the difference in current in the hot and neutral leg. if it sensed current in the ground, you could still get fried because most often if you get across the hot leg and ground, ground is NOT the ground wire in the outlet but another ground path.

But, GFI's also do sense for a ground/neutral connection downstream and will trip if they see a ground neutral bond. So, if the hair dryer for example has the ground and neutral shorted (which is should NOT have), the GFI WILL trip.

And MOST GFI outlets do NOT have a circuit breaker. they will NOT trip on a current overload, only a ground fault. That is why they are called "Ground fault interupter", NOT GFI/Circuit breaker.

[tropical36]

kg1d dx wrote:
I have a ground fault outlet on each circuit in my coach, but I keep frying the one in the bathroom. Happens when the circuit is over loaded usually by my wife's hair dryer. My question is why does the ground fault pop? The breaker does not trip. Could this be caused by the wrong amperage ground fault outlet?

A ground fault will obviously trip the GFI outlet itself.
Over current will trip the circuit breaker that's feeding it.
For some reason, using 15amp outlets on 20amp circuits is a common practice, acceptable and evidently legal, so a 15amp outlet being fed with #12awg wire and protected by a 20amp breaker, drawing close to 20amps and without fault, could very well do some cooking, without tripping anything and given that it's the weakest link in the chain.

[tenbear]

kg1d dx wrote:
I have a ground fault outlet on each circuit in my coach, but I keep frying the one in the bathroom. Happens when the circuit is over loaded usually by my wife's hair dryer. My question is why does the ground fault pop? The breaker does not trip. Could this be caused by the wrong amperage ground fault outlet?

Lets look at the function of a GFI.

The GFI looks for current flowing in the ground wire of the 120v circuit. There should be no current in that wire. If the GFI senses a current in the ground wire, it trips, shutting off the power to the circuit. It has nothing to do with the current flowing in the hot or neutral wires. That is the function of the circuit breaker.

Edit: Actually, I think it senses the difference in current between the hot wire and the neutral.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Hubbell uses a proprietary GF circuit which is multiple times more durable. UL cares whether the faulting is accurate not how durable it is. Heat buildup n garbage grade GCFI's torture the electronics in the receptacle. There are a lot of reasons I recommended the Hubbell. The primary reason is the awful, painful, and expensive School of Hard Knocks 🙂

[tenbear]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Note the brand name HUBBELL

It means something

Such as the end of your problems...

Maybe. If your GFI is really frying, that is smoking and burning up, using a 20 amp GFI could help if the circuit breaker for that circuit is 20 Amps.

If the GFI is tripping due to a problem with the hair dryer, then the GFI is doing it's job and replacing it with a different brand will not make a difference. The GFI will still be doing it's job.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

WHY?



Try this on for size



http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hubbell-GF20ILU-Heavy-Duty-Commercial-Grade-GFCI-LED-Receptacle-20-Amp-Ivory...

Note the brand name HUBBELL

It means something

Such as the end of your problems...

[beemerphile1]

I imagine the GFCI is tripping exactly as it is supposed to do. Using colorful and dramatic language like "frying" hinders diagnosis.

The most common cause for a GFCI to trip is moisture. Direct contact with moisture or even a very humid condition can cause it to trip.

Sometimes an outside receptacle can be protected by the same GFCI, if water gets into the outside receptacle it can cause a GFCI somewhere inside the RV to trip.

Amperage (load) has nothing to do with tripping a GFCI.

[pianotuna]

.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

Look for an outlet that is rated for 20 amps instead of 15.

[tenbear]

The obvious test is to plug the dryer into another circuit that is protected by a different GFI. If the GFI fries or pops, the dryer has a problem.

[ktmrfs]

I suspect it isn't an overload, hair dryers are rated to run on a 15A circuit. I suspect it senses a ground fault. NOw for question #2. Most all hair dryers now also have a GFI on the plug. Does that ever trip?

[tenbear]

You said in one place the GFI gets fried, in another place it pops.

If it pops, opens the circuit, the hair dryer may have a ground fault. If the GFI gets fried, maybe the dryer is drawing too much current. I think most GFIs are rated at 15 A.