flourescent fixture and the gfi breaker

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willdalrymple

willdalrymple

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Texas
have a customer that when he turns on the flourescent fixture in his closet in the bathroom it trips the gfi breaker. is this normal or should the light fixture not be on a gfi circuit.

any help on this would be appreciated
Thanks Will Dalrymple
 
same question

same question

because of its location in the circuit i dont know if thats possible. the real question is will the fixture somtimes cause the gfi breaker to trip.
 
A fluorescent light should not trip the GFCI. Check the wiring to make sure that the neutral and ground are not touching. Also check the GFCI with a GFCI tester to make sure that it is not defective. Also make sure that the line and load on the GFCI have not been reversed, although most will not reset if this is the case.
 
Another possibility, if the GFI is an older one, is that the neutral line & load are reversed. The GFI may operate fine until the light is turned on.

Another thing to try is to make sure it is the light fixture itself that causes the problem. Try hooking up a temporary light pigtail, they're just a socket with a black & white wire, to the wires that feed the light (disconnect the fluor. light) and see if a plain bulb will trip it. If that doesn't trip the GFI, then the problem is in the fixture.
 
I've had to GFCI protect fluorescent bathroom fixtures sometimes because the fixture also had a "shaver receptacle" in it. I've never had one trip the GFCI, however. Assuming the GFCI is properly wired, I might try changing out the fixture's ballast and see how that works out.
 
mdshunk said:
I've had to GFCI protect fluorescent bathroom fixtures sometimes because the fixture also had a "shaver receptacle" in it. I've never had one trip the GFCI, however. Assuming the GFCI is properly wired, I might try changing out the fixture's ballast and see how that works out.
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Did you put this light on a 20 amp ckt and keep it in the bathroom???and wire the recptical with 12 wire?
 
Cavie said:
Did you put this light on a 20 amp ckt and keep it in the bathroom???and wire the recptical with 12 wire?
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I'm talking about GFCI's fitted to comply with the International Property Maintenance Code, or HUD/USDA/FHA rules. Thanks for your concern.
 
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