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tprisher

GFI Breaker Trips With No Load

tprisher
10 years ago

I'm having problems with a GFI circuit that was installed five years ago. The GFI breaker is installed in the panel box and controls seven outlets. The circuit worked fine until a few days ago when it started tripping off. I thought I had a bad lamp or other appliance plugged into the circuit. So I started unplugging each appliance one at a time. I unplugged everything and the GFI tripped with no load on the circuit. With no load I can turn the GFI on and in 30min to one hour it will trip off. It doesn't trip immediately. This continued for a day and a half. Then today for no apparent reason the breaker stayed on and has been on for 10 hours. Do I have a bad GFI breaker, bad outlet or bad wire? Any help would be appreciated.

Comments (20)

  • Ron Natalie
    10 years ago

    It could be any of those. Usually when it trips no load, then most likely the problem (barring a bad GFCI) is that there is a GROUND-to-NEUTRAL fault somewhere.

    If a cursory inspection of the devices on this circuit don't show anything, the only real way is a divide and conquer. Take the wires out of the GFCI and see if it trips with nothing connected to it (that would surely be the sign of a bad breaker). Reconnect it and try opening the circuit at progressive (or if you're mathematically inclined you can do a binary search) points until you can find when the problem does occur and when it doesn't which should point you to the problem.

    However, the time delay with no apparent load isn't the usual sign of a ground fault. That usually indicates a marginal over current or a bad device. Usually I don't recommend people start by replacing the GFCI, but in this case I might.

    One more thing... before we get started ... are you sure this is GFCI and not an AFCI? Whole different slew of things in that case.

  • saltcedar
    10 years ago

    Had that problem with an outdoor receptacle that would trip in rainy or damp conditions.

  • Ron Natalie
    10 years ago

    Wet could definitely do it. Check the covers on outside receptacles. If you regularly have things plugged into them (or you wish to comply with the current codes), make sure they are equipped with in-use style covers. Make sure any gasketing on the box and cover is in good shape so water is not infiltrating.

  • tprisher
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Well I'm back again. Same problem with the same circuit. This circuit provides service to seven outlets on an inclosed porch. GFI started tripping again. Disconnected all load. GFI trips with no load but not immediately. I'll turn GFI on and it stays on for 10-24 hours then trips. Repeated this 5-6 days in a row with same results. Three days ago I turned GFI on and it has stayed on. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated..

  • Ron Natalie
    9 years ago

    What do you mean by disconnected "all load?" Did you remove the wires from the breaker or do you just mean you unplugged everything from the circuit? Still likely you have a ground fault somewhere...wet box, intermittant inappropriate conductors touching, something. If examining each outlet on the circuit doesn't find it you can divide the problem by taking half the receptacles off the circuit and see if it still goes....etc...

  • bus_driver
    9 years ago

    The tripping could be caused by very small ground faults at more than one point. The cumulative effect could be the thing that causes the tripping. Diagnosis as explained above is the solution.

  • btharmy
    9 years ago

    Does it rain every time the GFCI trips? If so, moisture is gettin into the system at some point. I had a customer "disconnect all of the loads" but leave an extension cord plugged in to an exterior receptacle. The end of it was just laying in the wet grass. No wonder it tripped every time it rained.

  • tprisher
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I unplugged everything from the circuit. I did not disconnect any wiring. The GFI trips are random. Sometimes it raining sometimes it sunny and dry. The last few days it has been rainy and wet and the GFI has not tripped off, The circuit has been energized with no GFI trips. The trips are so random I really don't know how check for the problem. If the circuit would trip off and stay off I could do some trouble shooting.

  • bullheimer
    9 years ago

    you could remove all outlets on the circuit, wire nut them and try it for a half a day or so. if it trips more than likely a breaker. if not, then replace every outlet with new and you will probably never have any more issues. i agree with a damp outlet. over time outside outlets all seem to get moisture in them. another thing is that when you said that you removed all things plugged in, did you include Surge Suppressors with multiple outlets, like for computers? many times those things will trip a gfi because they are shot.

  • zhenann67
    7 years ago

    I am having a
    problem with an electrical outlet in the kitchen. It is a GFCI outlet that
    continues to trip after being reset. The two circuits that are connected to the GFCI load
    side :

    1) Island outlet by the sink, with no load.

    2) Patio door outlet on left side of the patio door, with no load.

    When I
    disconnected the Island
    outlet by the sink from the GFCI, the GFCI is working. If I connected the
    wire of the Island
    outlet by the sink to the GFCI with no outlet, the GFCI is still
    tripped. I check the resistance between the three wires (Black wire, white wire
    and copper wire) of the Island outlet, it is insulated. I
    also changed the GFCI outlet, but the problem is still remains. Any help would be appreciated.

  • Ron Natalie
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    As I stated in my response nearly THREE YEARS ago when this started, if you have a GFCI trip before a load is applied, it is almost certainly that the neutral is touching a ground somewhere (either the same circuit or another).

  • Leslie Elliott
    7 years ago

    OK, so, I am researching my mystery GFCI breaker and this thread is the closest to my problem.

    My GFCI breaker trips randomly, only late at night. Once I reset the breaker it will remain on for days or weeks or trip the next night. I have unplugged everything except my refrigerator and it still trips intermittently. Same thing with chargers in bathroom plugged in or not. Breaker serves 2 exterior receptacles, with Christmas lights in December or nothing on them at night. I have checked every wiring connection and all are sound. Weather doesn't seem to matter. Nothing on the frig cycles on or off at night only. I have another circuit available for the frig but would rather not make the change if I don't have to.

    I don't want to replace the breaker if it is something else, but I have no idea how to trace this ghost.

  • greg_2015
    7 years ago

    I have unplugged everything except my refrigerator

    Unplug your fridge and see if it still trips. Run a temporary, appropriately-sized extension cord to another outlet while you are investigating.

    Personally, I wouldn't put a fridge on a GFCI. I'd replace your breaker with a normal breaker and then switch out the receptacles that require GFCI protection with individual GFCI receptacles.

  • Vith
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    I agree

    Does that outlet feed the exterior outlets? I would make a junction somewhere between the fridge and the exterior and put a GFCI there instead of having them outside. With a GFCI outside, if water gets in the box the GFCI would trip but there would still be live voltage inside the box with water.

  • jliving2001
    6 years ago

    Old thread, but tricky problem.

    My GFCI in the washroom bathroom was set up to protect the hall bathroom, master bedroom bathroom, and three outdoor outlets in a daisy chain fashion, that is, one GFCI protecting six outlets. I unplugged everything from all the outlets and while the GFCI would set initially it would click off after a few minutes. So I did replace the GFCI, but predictably that did not solve the problem; the new GFCI would set but click off in a few minutes, not immediately. I finally accepted bullheimer's advice above and replaced the three outside outlets. Boy, were they old, corroded, and full of bugs. Lot of work but problem solved. Oh, and after replacing the outlets, I checked the receptacles on each one with a outlet tester that showed I wired them right. I used a tester that allowed me to test the GFCI for each outlet's receptacles so I was sure the one GFCI was still protecting each of the other five outlets. For me that involved testing 12 receptacles; two for each of the six outlets. GFCIs are very important. I saw a friend decades ago get severely shocked by an outside outlet not protected by GFCI. She almost died.

  • HU-106805280
    3 years ago

    Kitchen gfci outlet that the refrigerator is on starting tripping intermittently but the circuit breaker was not tripped.I reset it and it stayed on for a day and half before it tripped again. I had someone replace with a new gfci outlet and two days later it tripped again. I reset it and was good for two days before tripping again. That is only outlet available for location of refrigerator. There is an outdoor outlet I believe on same line but it is not being used and has the cover over it. Maybe there is condensation or something with the outside outlet, I don't know. I don't want to hire an electrician if its a simple solution. Please help.

  • mtvhike
    3 years ago

    After hearing these problems, if I were doing it again, I would use GFCI receptacles at each outlet box, not daisy-chain them. And I would never put a GFCI receptacle on a circuit which must always remain on, such as a refrigerator, smoke detector, etc.

  • Ron Natalie
    3 years ago

    One thing I did when chasing a repeated ground fault trip in my townhouse was do what mtvhike said. I got rid of the daisy-chaining and gave each receptacle (three outside and one in the utility room) its own GFCI receptacle. Then I just had to wait until the day one tripped. It turned out to be a poorly installed box on the outside receptacle on my deck.


  • Michael Eckert
    3 years ago

    I'm having an issue with my got tub GFCI. With the wires disconnected for m the tub, it trips after ten minutes, no load. It is #6 wire from the main breaker to the hot tub breaker (GFCI). It has worked since I installed it 6 months ago, but now it stay on more than 10 minutes. Any suggestions? I've looked inside the box and there doesn't appear to be any wires touching. Nothing hot, and nothing changed with the wire from the panel.