old gfci tripping

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jakeseagle

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I have an old stablock gfci breaker that is hooked to my bathroom and my outside outlet. It trips all the time. Do you think it has anything to do with the old breaker? If so, if I replaced the GFCI breaker with a regular 20A breaker and then use modern GFCI recepticles in the bath and the outside outlet, would that eliminate the problem? Thanks
 
Re: old gfci tripping

Maybe..... could it be that the GFCI breaker is doing it's job, and you have a ground fault???
 
Re: old gfci tripping

Maybe you should replace the old gfci breaker with a new gfci breaker. That way if there is a ground fault and it is in the wireing somewhere, you won't just be covering up the problem to resurface in a worse way later.
 
Re: old gfci tripping

Try removing the cover plates and looking for the junction. If there isnt one, you have an attic or hidden junction. It could be that it goes elsewhere and you are unaware or someone covered up a box(god forbid)in a wall or ceiling somewhere.

If you find a junction behind one of the cover plates, disconnect the downline wires and see if it still trips. If not, you have a downline fault and will have to either replace a recept or the downline wiring.

Does the trip occur during inclimate weather? Is the outside box raintight?

If you find the breaker to be bad, I suggest you replace it with a gfci recept at the junction point(line and load).

You may find a light hooked to the same neutral causing the problem and can eliminate it by attaching the neutral ahead of the gfci recept. You can't, however eliminate the problem with a new gfci breaker.

Good luck, Jim
 
Re: old gfci tripping

The GFCI breaker failures I have experienced is a failure to trip at all, not a nuisance trip. Chances are you have a fault somewhere.
 
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