Need some electrical help
- Thread starter boykinlp
- Start date
Argonnakid
Member
He may have a gfi on the living room circuit because it may be feeding a outlet on the front porch. Or, he may have an older home that used to have 2 prong outlets in it. Putting a gfi at the head of the circuit always you to change the outlets to 3 prong. The gfi protects you in case of a ground fault. That being said, not actually seeing the problem with our own eyes, we all are giving a educated guess. That's way I don't like to give estimates over the phone. You never know what you have till you see it.
UncaGrunny
US Veteran
First bet; loose/open neutral connection on that branch
Second bet; weakened/failing breaker
Third bet; failing GFCI
If your problem was actually the GFCI itself, it would probably be tripping & need to be reset. It's possible for one to go bad internally without tripping, it's just less likely than the other two.
A simple 3-lamp plug-in circuit tester will tell you a lot about your situation. Cheap and really useful to have around.
A flaky connection (or a breaker that's starting to go) can fail intermittently without actually tripping the breaker.
One interesting thing I discovered only recently about GFCI's; they are susceptible to opening under heavy inductive loads (like strong electric motors), due to the phase separation between voltage and current in an inductive load causing a short but measurable difference in current flow between hot and neutral, which is what a GFCI actually tests - - they do NOT actually measure ground circuit current flow. A device called a "snubber" can be connected to correct for this. Usually not an issue in household-scale loads, though.
My wife had a blow-dryer that would quite frequently pop the bathroom GFCI. It had no actual ground fault, but it had a hellish inductive backlash for some reason.
Second bet; weakened/failing breaker
Third bet; failing GFCI
If your problem was actually the GFCI itself, it would probably be tripping & need to be reset. It's possible for one to go bad internally without tripping, it's just less likely than the other two.
A simple 3-lamp plug-in circuit tester will tell you a lot about your situation. Cheap and really useful to have around.
A flaky connection (or a breaker that's starting to go) can fail intermittently without actually tripping the breaker.
One interesting thing I discovered only recently about GFCI's; they are susceptible to opening under heavy inductive loads (like strong electric motors), due to the phase separation between voltage and current in an inductive load causing a short but measurable difference in current flow between hot and neutral, which is what a GFCI actually tests - - they do NOT actually measure ground circuit current flow. A device called a "snubber" can be connected to correct for this. Usually not an issue in household-scale loads, though.
My wife had a blow-dryer that would quite frequently pop the bathroom GFCI. It had no actual ground fault, but it had a hellish inductive backlash for some reason.
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THE PILGRIM
Member
I would check the easy things first- the switch, the connections.
GFI's can be a problem. And Sometimes they can be wired up in a manner that don't make any sense. If they have been tripped very much and are a few years old, just replace it. They seem to tire out with age.
GFI's can be a problem. And Sometimes they can be wired up in a manner that don't make any sense. If they have been tripped very much and are a few years old, just replace it. They seem to tire out with age.
OP
Had to work late today so I am just getting to look at the posts here. Thanks BTW.
When I went to bed last night, all of the stuff that was not working earlier was still not working. About 2:00 am I woke up and saw a light outside. When I went to investigate, it was my outside spot light, that I had left on accidently (since it was in the "not working list"). My living room ceiling fan was also on. So everything was working normally.
I will get a circuit tester tommorrow. I also will check the outlet, that I originally plugged in the vacuum, for loose connections. Somebody had asked why I had 3 GFCI on one circuit. I don't. I just checked all 3, because none were tripped. Originally resetting them made everything come back on, so I don't know which one was the problem.
After checking, I will report back. Thanks again.
When I went to bed last night, all of the stuff that was not working earlier was still not working. About 2:00 am I woke up and saw a light outside. When I went to investigate, it was my outside spot light, that I had left on accidently (since it was in the "not working list"). My living room ceiling fan was also on. So everything was working normally.
I will get a circuit tester tommorrow. I also will check the outlet, that I originally plugged in the vacuum, for loose connections. Somebody had asked why I had 3 GFCI on one circuit. I don't. I just checked all 3, because none were tripped. Originally resetting them made everything come back on, so I don't know which one was the problem.
After checking, I will report back. Thanks again.
1morethan8
US Veteran, Absent Comrade
Make sure everything on that circuit is off until you get it checked out...
let us know what you find out.
let us know what you find out.
bobelk99
Member
I recently had this happen to me, in a very old box in a very old house. Changed breaker and all is ok, 150 days and counting.
At my age recently is anything in last 5 years.
Argonnakid
Member
I understand the purpose of an Arc fault, To drive service techs baty. Always, the first question I ask when dealing with arc faults is, How old is your vacuum?
Good Luck!!
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williamlayton
Member
I HATE GFI's---they are a gift from the liberal left and faint of heart.
Blessings
Blessings
Comrad
Member
Liberal left faint hearts and conservative right strong hearts have been known to stop beating particularly around defective pool filtering equipment that isn't protected by GFCI.
Argonnakid
Member
OK, So what was the issue? Curious minds want to know.
