steamer trips gfci

[Gaffen99]

I have a commercial kitchen with a cord and plug connected convection steamer. It trips the GFCI outlet on a regular basis, does anyone have any suggestions as to why this happens?( its only a year old) How would you satisfy the GFCI requirement and avoid the nuisance.
Thanks

 

[kwired]

Failing heat element faulting to ground - just a possibility not saying that is what you have.

I'd suggest getting out a megger an analyzing a few things.

 

[iwire]

I have a commercial kitchen with a cord and plug connected convection steamer. It trips the GFCI outlet on a regular basis, does anyone have any suggestions as to why this happens?( its only a year old) How would you satisfy the GFCI requirement and avoid the nuisance.
Thanks

I agree with kwired that the appliance is likely faulty and the GFCI is doing exactly what it is supposed to do.

Am I correct to assume the steamer has a three wire cord?

 

[Little Bill]

I have a commercial kitchen with a cord and plug connected convection steamer. It trips the GFCI outlet on a regular basis, does anyone have any suggestions as to why this happens?( its only a year old) How would you satisfy the GFCI requirement and avoid the nuisance.
Thanks

Have you tried plugging into another GFCI to rule out the GFCI being the culprit?

Sometimes a GFCI breaker will hold where a receptacle type won't.
Also, the steam could have an effect on a GFCI receptacle.

 

[Gaffen99]

Have you tried plugging into another GFCI to rule out the GFCI being the culprit?

Sometimes a GFCI breaker will hold where a receptacle type won't.
Also, the steam could have an effect on a GFCI receptacle.

I have changed the GFCI twice to rule that out, and I have relocated the outlet away from any exhaust. If I hard wire the unit, would I be code compliant without GFCI protection? I worry about shock hazard to the employees, though.

 

[ActionDave]

I'm going with bad elements too, maybe just a bad connection from the power cord if you are lucky. The GFCI is doing its job.

The fact that the unit is only a year old means nothing. There is a lot of expensive commercial cooking equipment that is pure junk.

 

[iwire]

I have changed the GFCI twice to rule that out, and I have relocated the outlet away from any exhaust. If I hard wire the unit, would I be code compliant without GFCI protection?

You can't hard wire unless it is listed for hardwiring.

The appliance needs repair or replacement.

I worry about shock hazard to the employees, though.

As I would as well.

If it has enough leakage current to trip the GFCI it has enough leakage current to become a shock hazard if the EGC becomes broken.

 

[John120/240]

Sometimes a GFCI breaker will hold where a receptacle type won't.

I would try Little Bill's suggestion, Yes sometimes the GFCI breaker will hold when the GFCI receptacle will not. If you can rule out the appliance.

 

[mopowr steve]

Manufacturer may not have insulated internal connections appropriately from steam condensation that may accumulate within the steamers case.

 

[kwired]

Why should it matter if it is a GFCI breaker or a receptacle? Both are supposed to respond to same level of current imbalance among monitored conductors. I could understand experiences of one or the other type failing more frequently, and in fact from my own experiences have noticed that maybe 75% or more of the GFCI breakers I run into that are over 20-25 years old will not trip with test button or by introducing an intentional fault condition, of course owners always test them monthly like the instructions say:happyno:.

 

[ceb58]

Could be a build up of mineral deposits on the element causing leakage to ground. Has it done it from the beginning or just started?

 

[kwired]

Could be a build up of mineral deposits on the element causing leakage to ground. Has it done it from the beginning or just started?

I can't see mineral deposits alone being a leakage issue, but if they (deposits) insulate (thermally) the element enough to cause overheating even in just limited locations I can see that causing a breakdown of the insulation (electrical) of the element.