Gfci trouble

Kheren said:

Obviously I too have a few loose screws, I've already mentioned the fridge isn't on the gfci so what I said made zero sense. Lol. Electrician is coming today but last night he told my husband to swap the gfi outlet with a normal one to see if that helps or if now the breaker will flip....again we will see later in the heat of the day if this works...then go from there.

Click to expand...

Is the GFCI outlet tripping or the breaker that is labeled gfi in the panel?
Either way it looks like a wire issue.

Kim, this is an interesting problem and others would benefit from knowing the solution.  After the electrician comes, can you let us know what s/he found out?

Yes obviously taking out gfci outlet would eliminate tripping, but I needed to be away for several hours today and have the electric on while gone. Also, wasn't sure if it was even possible that if it were a huge issue somewhere then the breaker would flip instead? I know they do 2 different things but I guess it's not a fire hazard...yet....anyway yes, tonight we will try moving gfci outlet to another area and work backwards.


Will definitely let you all know if/when the problem is fixed for future reference for someone. I can't believe I'm the only one ever to have this problem. I can find 9,217 answers from google on how to eat cereal while standing on my head (really!) but not this!!! Hahaha. Thank you all, will update soon.

I'm with Gary. The temp swing definitely is involved in causing something, wire nut connection, wire expanding and shorting or losing connection and causing the GFCI to sense an electrical imbalance. It will be in that particular circuit and a good electrician should be able to run it down fairly quickly as long as he can get to all of the circuit. Good luck.

wasn't sure if it was even possible that if it were a huge issue somewhere then the breaker would flip instead? I know they do 2 different things but I guess it's not a fire hazard..

Click to expand...

The breaker will trip is there is a short with significant current flow, but in this case either the amount of current in the short is small or the short is in the neutral side of the circuit and there is no amp overload at all.  The GFCI is not preventing a fire - it is avoiding a situation where a person or pet could get shocked or even electrocuted.

I can't believe I'm the only one ever to have this problem. I can find 9,217 answers from google on how to eat cereal while standing on my head (really!) but not this!!!

Click to expand...

You aren't, but the problem here is locating the fault, not identifying what is happening.  Since you know where your mouth and hands are and how they work, eating cereal upside down is a relatively simple problem compared to analyzing  50+ feet of hidden wiring with multiple outlets and connections.    We gave you the procedure for finding it, but it's not an easy task. Won't be for an electrician either, unless he gets lucky right off the bat.

Gary, I meant no disrespect in my cereal comment, I apologize if it seemed that way I just meant when googling "RV gfci only trips in hot weather" etc, nothing comes up, EXCEPT when I found you guys/gals. It's been a slow process in trying to find the problem in the evenings, after work but we will find it. Tonight we are replacing all outlets in the entire trailer and reinstalling a new gfi. I appreciate you all.

I didn't take it as disrespect, just frustration.  And I tend to be am a pedant who explains things that nobody cares about in response to off-the-cuff remarks like that.  8)

Old Blevins said:

Kim, you mentioned in your first post you were "heating to death" with the failure.  I took that to mean that your air conditioner wasn't working.  Is that right?  Because the breaker layout you've described shows the air conditioner is on a different circuit than the gfci.  If all your 120 V circuits are out when you're having this maddening, intermittent problem, I don't see how it could be the gfci. So can you be a little more clear about what is not working?  You said later, "It controls everything except microwave, over head lights & stereo".  Can you clarify?  Because if you're losing your air conditioning when the gfci is popping, this is a whole different problem.

Click to expand...

I'd unplug the fan, my bet is the fan is the culprit.

Kheren said:

Hi, I'm Kim, new here thanks for the add....having major electrical problems we have lived in our 1999 Esprit Kit travel trailer for nearly 3 years but just a few days ago the gfci (which controls every outlet) has been tripping, even after we replaced it. We have also used an outlet tester and all seems fine. Today I've spent hours trying to pin point the problem, no single plug seems to be the problem nor appliance through process of elimination...still tripping to the point that gfci quit resetting, will replace again but what on earth is causing it?  Even unplugged fridge at one point...converter?  We are at a loss and now heating to death, it was staying in shorter and shorter amounts of time before giving out completely. Now we are trying to replace breakers and I'm not sure that even affects anything. Please help. Thank you!!!
I'm adding that the tripping starts when it's the hottest part of the day and quits later in the cooler evenings...no a/c on

Click to expand...

Kheren
Are there output breakers on your inverter?
On my coach the shore power coming into the coach "passes through" pop-out curcuit breakers on the face of my inverter...on its way to the GFCI receptacles.
For me those breakers are often the cause of no power to the GFCI receptacles.
However the breakers on my inverter, (whether tripped or not), do not affect the operation of my roof A/C unit(s).

I've been reading this post with interest and sure hope you can find the problem. I recently wired my pole barn and protected all the circuits with ground faults. I moved our old refrigerator from the house to the barn and plugged it in and it promptly tripped the ground fault. I tested the refrigerator with and ohm meter for continuity and resistance and never could really pinpoint a problem. I eventually ran a separate non-ground fault circuit just for the refrigerator, similar to what your electrician suggested. Obviously you can't leave yours like that for safety reasons, but it's ok as a troubleshooting technique. I have found over the years that there are some things that ground faults just don't "like". I bought a night light once that would trip a ground fault circuit for some reason. Lighted light switches fed off a ground fault circuit sometimes cause problems. Motor windings getting old or hot and breaking down, like fans, can "leak" electricity to ground when the electricity is making it's path back on the neutral line, causing a ground fault trip. Dead shorts tripping breakers are easy to find. Small electrical leakers not enough to trip a breaker, but enough trip trip a ground fault can be super heard to locate, even for very good electricians. (Which I am not) Good luck!

Hey yall, I am a retired electrician. Sorry I got here late.  Considering that the "leaking fan" may be causing the GFCI to trip, Maybe ask your electrician buddy to wire your outlets commercial style. With pig tails. Each outlet will be separate on the wiring run. Then you can put a gfci or a regular duplex outlet wherever you need it.

I'm not clear how a fan became a focus here. The only previous mention of a fan that i see is that Kheran prefers to use a fan versus the a/c.

Gary RV_Wizard said:

I'm not clear how a fan became a focus here. The only previous mention of a fan that i see is that Kheran prefers to use a fan versus the a/c.

Click to expand...

I mentioned the fan because Kheran mentioned that she was testing the outlets with the fan. I thought that the fan might be the problem.