All outlet type gfci are popping

[Shawn pavich]

Went to a trouble shoot all 6 gfci are popping about 1 o'clock pm at least 3 or 4 times a week according to home owner. house is about 2 yrs old waranty is only good for one year I noticed all of the neutrals were not tight in panel I had to turn every one almost a full turn btw there is no muilti branch ckt every one has its own neutrals they had a alarm just put in about the time it started happening home owner turned off alarm for a week gfci were still acting up kit ,bath garage,outside .has anyone every ran into this.home owner was saying something about raidio frequency.they did not pop when I was there home owner also said that that when his garage would pop his restroom would shut off when he reset his gfci in garage his restroom would turn back on I no for a fact that they all have there own home runs garage is not connected to bath so how is this possible and I know I did not misunderstand him cause he seen the look on my face and said he is not lying lol thanks anyways they are still popping thanks for the input

 

[jeremysterling]

What you are describing is really bizarre. I would almost write you off as delusional except something very similar happened to me.

I had a trouble call at a big box store. When a display case light switch was turned on, up to six GFCI breakers in the panel would all trip. I one-lined the wiring and everything was right. I replace the T8 instant start ballasts in the display and that fixed it.

I have no idea where you should look. But I would look at any T8 flourescent light in the house.

 

[Shawn pavich]

Ok they do have a fluorescent in the kitchen thanks

 

[ActionDave]

Some spacing and punctuation would go a long way in making the description of the problem more understandable.

 

[mbrooke]

What make/model are these? Id replace one with a different brand and see if it holds.

his restroom would turn back on

What would turn back on? If its the bath outlets then that would be a code violation.

 

[growler]

owner also said that that when his garage would pop his restroom would shut off when he reset his gfci in garage his restroom would turn back on I no for a fact that they all have there own home runs garage is not connected to bath so how is this possible.

What would turn back on? If its the bath outlets then that would be a code violation.

Did you pull the garage GFCI and see if it was dedicated or if it actually protected other receptacles down stream ?

Many times GFCI receptacles will be installed at each location in a bath circuit and will be feed through and not pig tailed ( isolated ) and this will cause problems because the owner will need to seach for whichever of the GFCIs tripped.

 

[mbrooke]

Did you pull the garage GFCI and see if it was dedicated or if it actually protected other receptacles down stream ?

Many times GFCI receptacles will be installed at each location in a bath circuit and will be feed through and not pig tailed ( isolated ) and this will cause problems because the owner will need to seach for whichever of the GFCIs tripped.

True, but being a new home the 20amp feed needs to be dedicated to that bath or bath outlets only. If the GFCI in the garage is tripping the lights that in itself would make me be suspicious as I cant think of someone putting the lighting circuit on a feed through via a garage outlet, though it is possible.

 

[growler]

True, but being a new home the 20amp feed needs to be dedicated to that bath or bath outlets only. If the GFCI in the garage is tripping the lights that in itself would make me be suspicious as I cant think of someone putting the lighting circuit on a feed through via a garage outlet, though it is possible.

I agree that the garage and bath circuits should be seperate but that doesn't mean they are. You can't depend on anything other than what you find out for yourself.

I would pull that garage GFCI receptacle and take the wires off the load side and see what is no longer working and that would give some real information.

 

[Shawn pavich]

I made sure that they were all Dedicated CKT ,turned them all off one at a time. 2 kit CKT,bathroom plug CKT and so on and so on ,I don't think the HO is making it up I just think he is mistaken .I went there this morning put a new gfci in garage,I'm just hopping that they all pop except the new gfci thanks for the input,let me know Dave if my spelling and spaces and commas and periods are in order lol just kidding Dave ,I see what your saying I tend to do that a lot ,sorry if I confused anybody thanks

 

[GoldDigger]

Your test with the breakers did confirm that the hot wires drive exactly the outlets you described. But it tells us nothing conclusive about the neutrals.
Since the receptacles, unlike a breaker, interrupt both hot and neutral, a feed through of the neutral could cause the garage receptacle reset to restore another circuit's operation.
But with that degree of miswiring I would expect just about any load to trip both GFCIs.
So that brings us strongly to the "interference" cause of the trip. The source could even be external to the house.
But "interference" does not explain the reset symptom.

 

[growler]

owner also said that that when his garage would pop his restroom would shut off when he reset his gfci in garage his restroom would turn back on I no for a fact that they all have there own home runs garage is not connected to bath so how is this possible .

I went there this morning put a new gfci in garage,I'm just hopping that they all pop except the new gfci .

Your test with the breakers did confirm that the hot wires drive exactly the outlets you described. But it tells us nothing conclusive about the neutrals.
Since the receptacles, unlike a breaker, interrupt both hot and neutral, a feed through of the neutral could cause the garage receptacle reset to restore another circuit's operation.
But with that degree of miswiring I would expect just about any load to trip both GFCIs.
So that brings us strongly to the "interference" cause of the trip. The source could even be external to the house.
But "interference" does not explain the reset symptom.

Did you check to see if the bathroom GFCI would trip and reset ( normal test) with the garage GFCI out of the circuit? There has to be a reason the garage receptacle has an effect on the bath receptacle or the homeowner doesn't know what he's talking about.

GoldDigger is right and this symptom is not explained. You need to know if this is really happening or is just BS.

 

[degupita]

I noticed that happening with AFCI breakers.

There was one residential job where if someone drew amps on one circuit, it would trip a certain AFCI on another circuit.

They were not connected other than all neutrals went to the same busbar.

A GFCI breaker was put in there temporarily, until we could figure it out.

Because the other workers needed power.

 

[kwired]

If it is happening at a certain time, probably a specific load or activity is causing the problem. I'm thinking inductive kickback here and you either have something on site that is most likely shutting down at that time more so then something starting up, or could be something off site also, like POCO switching capacitors or tap changer operation is happening at about the same time on a daily basis. Nearby plant or other heavy load switching at that time?

If the GFCI's are the cheap no-name ones from a big box store, replace with a reputable brand name this may help as most good units do have better inductive kickback withstanding abilities then the cheap ones have.