- Location
- Tennessee NEC:2017
- Occupation
- Semi-Retired Electrician
Why would a GFCI receptacle trip when a plug tester is plugged in? The tester does have a GFCI tester button on it. At first I thought I was hitting the button when plugging it in because I have done that before. The button is right on top and is easy to have your hand on it when plugging it in.
But I carefully plugged it in, making sure I wasn't touching the button. As soon as it's inserted the GFCI trips.
The recep will hold after unplugging the tester but as soon as you plug it back it trips. I started to start tearing things apart to look for a fault then I realized they had been using that recep and it didn't trip. I then took another tester without a GFCI test button and plugged it in and it held. So I plugged a load in and it held.
So why was it tripping with the tester w/GFCI test button?
But I carefully plugged it in, making sure I wasn't touching the button. As soon as it's inserted the GFCI trips.
The recep will hold after unplugging the tester but as soon as you plug it back it trips. I started to start tearing things apart to look for a fault then I realized they had been using that recep and it didn't trip. I then took another tester without a GFCI test button and plugged it in and it held. So I plugged a load in and it held.
So why was it tripping with the tester w/GFCI test button?