Do GFCIs go bad?

[LVSteve]

Do GFCIs go bad/get cranky with age? I have one here inside the house but on a South facing wall that has been tripping lately. Do they become heat sensitive? the temperatures here in Vegas spiked this week.

There is another GFCI outside on my patio that refuses to reset. Has the Vegas heat killed it or is it an indication of a problem?

 

[hanken]

They do seem to go bad with age, especially if they are on a circuit that is heavily loaded like with a garage door on that same circuit.

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[sceva]

Yes; I have had to replace a couple myself. Tripping a lot is a sign they need replaced.

 

[arjay]

Same with the circuit breakers in the panel

 

[mojave30cal]

Time to call an electrician.

 

[DWalt]

Yes. I needed to replace a GFCI receptacle in one of my bathrooms about three months ago. It apparently tripped on its own and could not be reset. It was at least 10 years old, possibly older. Not the easiest thing to replace unless you have a very deep switchbox. There are also GFCI circuit breakers available that go in your main house circuit breaker box. I have also needed to replace several conventional circuit breakers over the years.

 

[ladder13]

……..yes……..

 

[NYlakesider]

Their a mechanical device, they have a finite lifetime!

 

[LVSteve]

Oh dear. All I can say about the age of the GFCIs in this home is that they are all at least 8 years old. We moved here in 2016 and I've never replaced any. Time to dig out my AC mains probe and see which breaker these are on.

 

[Tom S.]

They can go bad from a power surge also.

 

[taz666]

Wiring getting hot in the wall? That'll trip them.

 

[LVSteve]

Wiring getting hot in the wall? That'll trip them.

South wall in Vegas, so...yeah, makes you wonder.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Most modern building codes require them! Every place you could come into contact with water, Think Bathrooms, kitchens, and outdoor fixtures/outlets. One condo complex dad built had a water faucet in the garage, making all the garage outlets on GFIs. The problem is many people like to put a refrigerator or freezer (or one of each) in their garage. GFI are not made to handle one let alone two major appliances! Around here you are allowed a separate appliance circuit in kitchens or other GFI situations if the are marked. When I set things like that up, I use a different color to indicate that and the tiny, preprinted tags.

One low quality build had 16 outlets on a GFI outlet in the guest bathroom!

Another had bathroom on three levels of the house on a single GFI outlet

The moron electrician that wired the kitchen at church, had every other outlet on separate GFI circuit breakers and unused outlets with no power. It took me a couple of church potlucks the understand what the problem was. I used different colored tags with the breaker number on every outlet. (Turns out there were actually 3 different breakers.) The dummy outlets were removed, and blank plates used to cover the boxes. I also have a small card with instructions on what to do if an outlet quits working on the kitchen bulletin board. We pretty much have that all worked out and seldom have a GFI pop now. Why didn't the electrician start with that? He told me a couple years later he saved about $4 on a $6000 job! As Bugs Bunny said: "What a maroon!"

Ivan

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Wiring getting hot in the wall? That'll trip them.

I had 30 year old main breakers for apartments. The meter can faced the afternoon sun, and in August they would pop from the heat. In 1980 they were $110 by the time we sold it 2006, the were $340 The complex had 36 of that type. By the time we sold they all had been replaced once, some twice, and one had been 4 times! Took me about 2 hours on average, MUCH longer in the winter when the wire was stiff!

Ivan

 

[DWalt]

The big problem is replacing a common receptacle with a GFCI. They are much thicker than a conventional receptacle and a shallow receptacle box will not have enough room, especially if the wiring is single strand and stiff. I have had to fabricate wood receptacle stand-off boxes to get enough room for everything to fit. It is considerable extra work if you need to do that.

 

[ladder13]

Same with the circuit breakers in the panel

I had one in the panel that would not reset. I did not stick a wedge in to keep it live.

Turned out to be a bad breaker and not a fault in the wiring.

 

[NYlakesider]

As a person that has done my fair share of electrical work in property I own, I note the biggest problems amateurs (like me) have is GFI and 3 way- 4way switches work!

 

[ladder13]

As a person that has done my fair share of electrical work in property I own, I note the biggest problems amateurs (like me) have is GFI and 3 way- 4way switches work!

I dabble in the simple stuff like replacing switches, outlets and timers.
My friend, and neighbor, wanted to have a timer installed. Sure thing I say, have done a few. I open the box and there were 6 or more circuits coming into it. I closed the box and told him to call an electrician.

 

[pasound]

Yes they do get old and trip under loads that used to work fine.

 

[DWalt]

The problem with my present house is that there is no rhyme or reason to what circuit breaker controls which receptacles or lights. I do have a device called a "circuit detective" that is fairly accurate in determining what light or receptacles go to which circuit breaker,

 

[Kinman]

Same with the circuit breakers in the panel

I had no idea about circuit breakers going bad until I was working with a big router that kept popping my 15amp breaker, I ended up replacing it with a 20amp and then had the guy tell me that every time a breaker pops it takes less amperage to pop it again. It got to the point where that 15amp breaker was popping every ten minutes or so, it was big router...like a 3 horsepower.

 

[Bekeart]

AMEN!

I dabble in the simple stuff like replacing switches, outlets and timers.
My friend, and neighbor, wanted to have a timer installed. Sure thing I say, have done a few. I open the box and there were 6 or more circuits coming into it. I closed the box and told him to call an electrician.

As an old gunsmith told/taught me
1 Know how to do the job.
2 Know when you can do the job.
3 Know when to NOT do the job. The job is beyond your skill level.

Gordian Knot

 

[Imissedagain]

Circuit breakers are there to protect the wire runs.
The wire must be rated for that breaker's value.

When a new Customs GoFast caught fire on a chase,
there were no breakers/disconnect between the batteries and the terminal strip in the electronics overhead box.
12VDC 8AWG wire run shorted due to sharp edges in the holes, thru the aluminum T top legs, and the canvas was on fire.

Low bidders, with no knowledge of anything, got the work.
I got to teach the Agents what to check for after dressing down the incompetent installers.

At Nuke school in the Air Force, the instructor said,
"radiation, no parachute and electricity can kill."

 

[LVSteve]

Circuit breakers are there to protect the wire runs.
The wire must be rated for that breaker's value.

When a new Customs GoFast caught fire on a chase,
there were no breakers/disconnect between the batteries and the terminal strip in the electronics overhead box.
12VDC 8AWG wire run shorted due to sharp edges in the holes, thru the aluminum T top legs, and the canvas was on fire.

Low bidders, with no knowledge of anything, got the work.

No breakers AND no grommets?

 

[Jack Flash]

We had one die in the garage. One day it just no longer worked. It was maybe 15 years old. That was about twelve years ago, and none of the others have failed yet. It did probably get the most use of any outlet in the garage.

 

[Bald1]

I had one in the panel that would not reset. I did not stick a wedge in to keep it live.

Turned out to be a bad breaker and not a fault in the wiring.

Ladder…… NY Rangers. Really? I liked you until I saw that. They stole my Sabres captain Chris Drury. It's been all down hill since. In fact they are currently unwatchable

 

[GypsmJim]

I have 3 GFCIs installed in the appropriate places. One covers outside circuits and it has tripped several times when I washed the house. Now, I cover the outside receptacles so that no water can possibly enter them. The original covers were not very waterproof.

At any rate, all of the GFCIs are original. The house is 36 years old.

 

[Spurdann]

I have replaced at least 100 GFCI recepticles, I have also replaced many mains in apartment complexes. Short answer, yes the go bad frequently, I wouldn't replace one just because it is "old" however, when they start to trip for no apparent reason turn off power at the breaker and swap it out.

 

[TX-Dennis]

Our bedrooms have GFCI breakers. Don't know if that was code 20 years ago when the house was built or the contractor or electrician just thought it was a good idea. The bathrooms, kitchen, garage, and outdoor plugs are GFCI protected by outlets as they should be (no more than 3 outlets in a chain).

Haven't had any fail yet, but the GFCI breakers are pretty sensitive. I had a vacuum cleaner that would trip the breakers in the bedrooms. Had to use an extension cord and plug it in in the hallway. I'm guessing it was pretty close to the limit of the 15A breakers. The newer vac does not have that issue. The outdoor ones sometimes trip during thunderstorms, which is to be expected.

I'll tackle minor electrical work - replacing switches, outlets, lighting fixtures, hard wired appliances, breakers. Anything bigger than that will need a professional. A man's got to know his limitations.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

The next nightmare will be/is Arc Fault breakers. If there is any spark in a circuit, it trips. Sounds good until you see how many brand-new switches and appliances have an internal spark when powered on!

Ivan