Two-wire GFCI

[dhski04]

I have an outlet on my kitchen island. The previous owner ran 3-wire Romex to hook it up. When I tested the outlet to make sure it was GFCI-protected, I discovered that the ground wire is not running back to ground. I confirmed this by using my multimeter to run from the hot side to ground. I've been driving myself mad trying to find where the other end of the Romex is but I can't find the junction. I know that the GFCI/AFCI upstream is on the same circuit. I decided to treat it as a 2-wire receptacle and protect it with a GFCI without using the ground.

After hooking up the GFCI, we decided to test it by running a wire from the hot slot of the receptacle to ground (since my 3-prong tester won't test ungrounded GFCIs properly). When we did, there was quite a spark and the upstream GFCI/AFCI tripped as well as the 20A breaker, but not the GFCI that I was testing.

Why would the upstream GFCI/AFCI and breaker trip but not the GFCI I was testing? Is this normal, or is there an indication that the GFCI isn't functioning properly? The test button does work.

 

[augie47]

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[Little Bill]

OP should definitely call an electrician before he burns his house down trying to test the way that was done.