- Occupation
- Licensed Electrician
I have a front loading washing machine on a GFCI receptacle. On random occasions it would trip. Thought about discussions of motors causing a trip, knew that old GFCI's had some issues.
Today machine showed an error code. Manual said check the filter. While taking off the kick plate to access the filter I noticed a microswitch behind the plate. I cleaned the filter and wanted to run a cycle before I buttoned everything back up. When I pushed start on the machine the GFCI tripped.
It turns out that the switch is part of an interlock that kills power to the instrument panel, but on a GFCI protected circuit it trips the GFCI.
I am quite sure that some shaking and jumping during the spin cycle or other like scenarios could jostle that switch enough to cause the trip.
Mystery resolved. Something to look out for if someone complains about their washer.
Reliability of newer GFCI recpts- 1
Motors causing GFCI to trip- 0
Today machine showed an error code. Manual said check the filter. While taking off the kick plate to access the filter I noticed a microswitch behind the plate. I cleaned the filter and wanted to run a cycle before I buttoned everything back up. When I pushed start on the machine the GFCI tripped.
It turns out that the switch is part of an interlock that kills power to the instrument panel, but on a GFCI protected circuit it trips the GFCI.
I am quite sure that some shaking and jumping during the spin cycle or other like scenarios could jostle that switch enough to cause the trip.
Mystery resolved. Something to look out for if someone complains about their washer.
Reliability of newer GFCI recpts- 1
Motors causing GFCI to trip- 0
