The popping GFCI

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Daniel

Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2005
Posts
5
Hello, I have a 1994 19ft Cobra Salem with a Norcold 6162 refer. When I try to run it on AC it pops the GFI on the RV bathroom. I have traced all the wiring looking for neutral /ground shorts and found nothing. I tested the heating element on the refer and found 38.5 ohms across the lines and .7 Mohms from each line to ground. Also, at the AC input to the Dinosaur board  I find 11Kohms resistance between neutral and ground. Is that normal  ???

Thanks in advance
Daniel 
 
For test purposes I tried a ground adapter plug and  the fridge ran for about 15 mins and popped the GFI again. I disconnected the heater element and removed the ground adapter plug and turned the fridge on again and it never popped the GFI so, I figured it must be the element causing the issue. Then to conclude the test I reconnected the heating element and turned on the fridge expecting the GFI to
pop immediately and it ran all night with no issue and the freezer temp this morning was -5F and the refer was 30F  and still running. I turned it off and will try it again tonight. ???
 
Sounds like there was some foriegn material on the connectors to the heater element and when you disconnnected and re-connected it you, quite by accident, cleaned this "Stuff" off and fixed the problem

 
I recently had a similar problem only in my case the gas portion of the water would not work.? I cleaned the contacts with "De-Ox It" and it now works as it should. "De-Ox It" is an is an old
standby for Electronics repair and servicing.? ?
 
So my 6162 does the same thing, I measure 120 V at the attachment to the heater element on the power supply, but as soon as I hook up the heater element, it trips the GFI. I tried wiring direct to my house voltage and it tripped the circuit breaker.

The resistance is 40 - 42 ohms. The manual say to "check the technical data section" for what the resistance should be and there is no technical data section in the manual.

Does anyone know what the resistance should be?................thanx much!
 
Ok two things.  GFCI Tripping indicates a current imbalance hot to neutral.. In s water heater this means a short, even a partial short, between the element and the water. (or tank)

A circuit breaker trips due to TOO MUCH CURRENT

A GFCI=Breaker.. well both methods trip it.

Replace the element.
 
Odds are heavy that the heater element has a short to ground, such that it trips either a GFCI or a breaker. The GFCI would trip first, but if no GFCI the high amps would still trip the breaker. An element isn't expensive, so replacement is a worthwhile gamble unless difficult to get at it.

The wattage for the heater element is 1400, so the ohms should be between 11 and 12 (watts = volts x amps).

To get a free copy of the service manual, see http://bryantrv.com/docs.html#water_heater
 
So I've gotten a new heater element. Any tricks to get the "rusted fast" old element out? Also, there is a slot or space right next to the old element that is the same size as the one the old element is in. Can I just let the old element in and disconnected and put the new one in the space beside it?
 
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