About 5 years ago I did a major update to my home's electrical wiring. About 80% was replaced, and the change included a new service. New panel, all new breakers etc.
A couple years I started seeing occasional tripping of the GFCI breakers feeding the basement outlets. As time went on the breakers would trip more and more fequently. What started out as a monthly occurrence eventually became a couple times a week. About this time, the GFCI breakers feeding the kitchen receptacles started tripping every few weeks.
Although I found it to be very odd that I had 4 different circuits effected, I still inspected the wiring to search for faults. Every junction came apart and was looked over. After being unable to find any wiring problems, one of the breakers in the basement was disconnected from it's circuit and left in the panel, only connected to the panel itself. Within a few days it tripped. At that point I purchased a few replacement breakers, and had no further problems until the GFCI breakers in the garage sub panel started tripping on hot days.
Replacing the garage breakers also alleviated the occasional trip. One thing I did notice is that even though I had purchased the same Siemens part number, the replacement GFCI breakers has a slightly different appearance. I considered the possibility that I had received a bad batch of breakers, or that Siemens was aware of an issue, and had revised their design to remedy an issue. Either way, my problem was solved, and I didn't give it any more though. The 6 new breakers were working just fine.
Fast forward to the Present. After being away on a jobsite for 3 weeks, I returned home to find that After two plus years without any tripping, ALL SIX GFCI breakers had tripped. Occording to the neighbor we did have a storm go through while I was away but nothing too extreme. I hoped that some surge or nearby lightning strike somehow caused them to trip, and that it would be a one time thing. I reset them all and waited, and wouldn't you know it, after about 10 days one of the basement breakers just tripped again.
So I ask, what causes a GFCI breaker to fail prematurely? Is it something wrong in the environment? Are the Siemens GFCI breakers known to have a short life?
A couple years I started seeing occasional tripping of the GFCI breakers feeding the basement outlets. As time went on the breakers would trip more and more fequently. What started out as a monthly occurrence eventually became a couple times a week. About this time, the GFCI breakers feeding the kitchen receptacles started tripping every few weeks.
Although I found it to be very odd that I had 4 different circuits effected, I still inspected the wiring to search for faults. Every junction came apart and was looked over. After being unable to find any wiring problems, one of the breakers in the basement was disconnected from it's circuit and left in the panel, only connected to the panel itself. Within a few days it tripped. At that point I purchased a few replacement breakers, and had no further problems until the GFCI breakers in the garage sub panel started tripping on hot days.
Replacing the garage breakers also alleviated the occasional trip. One thing I did notice is that even though I had purchased the same Siemens part number, the replacement GFCI breakers has a slightly different appearance. I considered the possibility that I had received a bad batch of breakers, or that Siemens was aware of an issue, and had revised their design to remedy an issue. Either way, my problem was solved, and I didn't give it any more though. The 6 new breakers were working just fine.
Fast forward to the Present. After being away on a jobsite for 3 weeks, I returned home to find that After two plus years without any tripping, ALL SIX GFCI breakers had tripped. Occording to the neighbor we did have a storm go through while I was away but nothing too extreme. I hoped that some surge or nearby lightning strike somehow caused them to trip, and that it would be a one time thing. I reset them all and waited, and wouldn't you know it, after about 10 days one of the basement breakers just tripped again.
So I ask, what causes a GFCI breaker to fail prematurely? Is it something wrong in the environment? Are the Siemens GFCI breakers known to have a short life?
