GFCI melt down

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sparky_magoo

sparky_magoo

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Reno
I went on a service call yesterday. I found a tripped 20A brkr serving a single Leviton GFCI in the guest bath. I reset the brkr and smelled somoke in the bath.

I opened the GFCI and saw that the coil melted. I have replaced tons of GFCI's, but have never seen one melt.

Has anyone else seen this?

The GFCI was almond. Lady didn't mind me installing a white replacement. I am a full time service tech and stock every white and ivory device imaginable on my van. I don't stock "specialty" colors.

Do any of you service guys stock foo-foo colors on your trucks? Perhaps I should. I will at least buy an almond GFCI for the van.
 
sparky_magoo said:
Do any of you service guys stock foo-foo colors on your trucks? Perhaps I should. I will at least buy an almond GFCI for the van.
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I try and keep white, ivory, and the occasional brown. I work out of a pick-up truck and do not have the room to stock everything I would like.
 
i keep almond on the truck; its becoming a popular choice among homeowners. not glaring like white, not so dull like ivory. i keep brown receps on the truck for placement in cabinets.
 
I have an E-350 stretch van. I have plenty of room, but try to stock it with the material I am most likely to need.
 
sparky_magoo said:
Do any of you service guys stock foo-foo colors on your trucks? Perhaps I should. I will at least buy an almond GFCI for the van.
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I keep lots of ivory on the truck, but I have at least one of everything in all the other colors. Actually, I have maybe 3 of everything in white, because that's the second most popular color behind ivory. Light Almond and Brown I have just one of everything. It doesn't take much room at all to have just one of every device and cover plate in the weird colors. I keep a little cardboard box of grey devices at the shop for one certain customer that I'll throw on the truck if I have a call at their location.
 
Around here, commercial is all white. Newer homes are mostly white. I keep at least one box of white & ivory recept.s & 1 pole switches. I only keep a couple of three & four ways, I go the the supply often enough not to need a bunch of them on the van.

Brown recepts with steel cvr. plts are becoming trendy in deisigner kitchens with dark back splashes.

I'll load up with some almond & brown next week.

I maintain a country club with some grey GFCI's, but I drive past the supply house to get there.

It was a Leviton GFCI.
 
Around here, for residential work, 95% of our installs are white. Almond has never caught on.

Ivory is still very common because it was the choice color for decades. But for new work it has been completely overtaken by white.
 
peter d said:
Around here, for residential work, 95% of our installs are white. Almond has never caught on.

Ivory is still very common because it was the choice color for decades. But for new work it has been completely overtaken by white.
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I'd say that's pretty much true for my area as well. Light almond never really caught on. I have to carry mostly ivory because it was the standard for so long. I'm normally matching what already exists in a building, which will typically be ivory. It wasn't too long ago I stocked a few phone, cable, and phone/cable plates on the truck in white. In a newer home, one of the more typical service calls would be to add a phone or cable jack, so I need to have these plates at the ready.

EDIT... oddly, I use quite a few white 2-prong receptacles in a year's time. People "update" to white in an older home, and often need a lot of 2-prongers installed.
 
I stock white,ivory,light almond in the van. I have plastic bins for each color, switches , receptacles and covers. I marked the bins so finding the right one is easy. Around here I see allot of almond.
 
guschash said:
Around here I see allot of almond.
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I like cashew better.

I hope this GFCI that had a melt down wasn't one that was made in the USA.:grin:

I suspect that there was a loose connection on the device that caused this meltdown. I guess a lightning surge could have blown it out????

I wouldn't worry about one problem GFCI.

Edit-- before Larry jumps in-- Cashew-- bless you.
 
Dennis Alwon said:
I suspect that there was a loose connection on the device that caused this meltdown.
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I agree, every time I have seen catastrophic failure of a GFCI it was either a loose connection or water damage. Water has a particular way or turning a GFCI into a unrecognizable block of black melted plastic.
 
Dennis Alwon said:
I like cashew better.

I hope this GFCI that had a melt down wasn't one that was made in the USA.:grin:

I suspect that there was a loose connection on the device that caused this meltdown. I guess a lightning surge could have blown it out????
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There hasn't been any lightning around here. I couldn't find evidence of a loose connection. Water is an unlikely culprit. I think Levitons are made in Mexico. It doesn't say.


Upon closer inspection of the remains, I see the burnt coil is part of a solenoid. The armature is siezed.
 
sparky_magoo said:
There hasn't been any lightning around here. I couldn't find evidence of a loose connection. Water is an unlikely culprit. I think Levitons are made in Mexico. It doesn't say.


Upon closer inspection of the remains, I see the burnt coil is part of a solenoid. The armature is siezed.
Click to expand...
Leviton has a 800 tech support phone. Give them a call, see if its a isolated case or a know issue. They may want the defective one back for evaluation.
 
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