Defective GFCI

[tjmurf]

Has anyone ever encountered a defective ground fault receptacle that melted down, ?burned-up?, with nothing plugged in to it? After removal, it was obvious that the problem was internal to the device. I have never seen anything like this. Comments??

TM

 

[iwire]

Never seen that, I think contacting the manufacturer would be a good idea.

 

[bphgravity]

I've seen and heard of similar events following what the user believed to be a lightning event or some other type of surge event on the premise wiring. I agree with Bob. Contact the manufacturer. They may be interested in investigating the specific product.

 

[shocker3218]

has 1 on a service call for a restaraunt I had wired about 3 years earlier. Luckily I knew how the wires were circuited and was able to find it in a short amount of time. GFI burnt up and was causing circuit breaker to trip. It was located in an employee bathroom under the sink, but fed some other convenience outlets in the lobby area.

 

[cowboyjwc]

I've seen it caused by almost the same reason that bphgravity said.

A utility line snapped and landed on the service entrance conductors one of the hots hit the neutral and sent a whole bunch more voltage than was needed into this house.

Blew the meter off, fried the tv and microwave and a hair dryer that was plugged into the GFI. It was when we tried to reset the GFI that we found out that it was fried.

We don't get a lot of lightning here, but I know that you should always check your GFIs after a storm.

 

[tshea]

Happened on the post light at my dad's house.
Can you say "freebie service call!" :lol:

GFCI was made by Leviton

 

[ashtrak]

Ever try holding a cell phone close to a gfci and dialing? I did this unintentionally once and smoked the gfci. It was an older model and I havn't tried it since.

 

[marcb]

Was the GFCI wired with aluminum conductors? If so I hope it listed for those kind of terminations, also at what height was it mounted?

 

[muskiedog]

I just came across one that had a faulty Microwave oven plugged in that caused the ground to burn up inside the wall. It was a hand me down microwave.

 

[macmikeman]

I had one fail upon energizing after installation. It worked just fine at first few testings with my yellow Ideal gfi tester, but I tripped it using the built in trip button and it started smoking right there and then. However I was in a high rise where the breakers were locked up in a common closet, and I had already dismissed the security guard with the key a few minutes earlier. Yep, the breaker didn't trip (FPE naturally), and I had a tense few minutes while frantically unscrewing a live arking 20 amp device out of a metal flush box in a high rise packed full of occupants. And a general contractor nearby who's eyes went from normal to saucer size during all this. That brand was in a discount display at the counter of the wholesale house . Instead of the usual brand I cheapo'd out and tried to save myself about 4 bucks, and nearly had a major incident. This is a big player brand, made in USA. Never again..