GFCI Receptacles Won't Reset

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hbendillo

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South carolina
We are having problems with some GFCI receptacles on a project. Two won't reset, another, which is connected to a sprinkler controller, keeps tripping. All are outdoors mounted in the exterior wall of a building. Any thoughts on typical problems? Could some be wired incorrectly?
 
Do you know if they have ever worked? Were they just installed, and have they failed during the operational test. Was some other work done recently, some new item installed or some old item repaired or replaced? Or have then been working well for a long time, and only recently shown this symptom? Have you tried replacing them with new GFCI devices, to see if the symptom goes away?

  • If they are new, my guess is incorrect wiring.
  • If they are very old, my guess would be they have failed due to normal aging, and are in need of replacement.
  • If they have been in service, but not for a very long time, my guess would be that some component they serve has failed, and that they are acting properly by tripping, having sensed a ground fault.
  • If some other thing has recently been installed or repaired, I would check the wiring related to that project first.
 
Brand new installation. We found out the problem when we went to do our final inspection. So basically they failed an operational test. The tripping problem on the one device could be due to a problems with the sprinkler controller. How does one wire a GFCI incorrectly?
 
hbendillo said:
Can incorrect wiring cause the receptacles to not be able to reset?
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I believe the new ones won't reset if the line and load are reversed. You may also have just the neutrals reversed or the hots reversed. Check those first.

If the gfi resets with nothing attached to it then the issue may be what is plugged into it.
 
A neutral that is shorted to ground will trip a GFCI. If you disconnect the neutral and the ungrounded conductors only at the panel, you should find an open circuit, "infinite" resistance, between the black and white wires and ground. If that is not what you get, you know where to look for the problem.
 
One more possibility: a GFCI will trip on a neutral-to-ground short on the load side wiring. The circuitry that detects N-G shorts will also detect a "hotted hot," a parallel path from the load side hot wire back to the panel.
 
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