I have a customer with a unique situation that I'm hoping someone can help explain. Thanks in advance!!
Overview - the customer has a 100 amp sub-panel that was installed for a kitchen and laundry addition that was added to the home a few years ago. I wired the addition, so I can verify that the laundry room is a dedicated circuit, and not tied into either of the kitchen small appliance branch circuits. All circuits are GE 20 amp dual function AFCI/GFCI breakers.
The customer's washing machine will operate with no issues at all, it has never tripped the breaker or had any other problems while running on it's own. However, whenever the customer is in the kitchen and uses his vacuum sealer (FoodSaver FM5200 120v 1.06amp - which is plugged into the kitchen countertop circuit) while the washing machine is running it will trip the dedicated circuit breaker for the washing machine. This only happens while both the washer and vacuum sealer are running simultaneously. The kitchen circuit does NOT trip, just the laundry circuit. It happens very consistently, within 30 seconds of him starting to operate the vacuum sealer. No vacuum sealer being used, no problems. He has stated that he will sometimes see a momentary pause in the vacuum sealer's operation right when the laundry breaker trips.
I swapped the laundry circuit breaker with the dishwasher breaker just to verify it wasn't a breaker issue. It tripped the second breaker also. The laundry breaker (circuit 10) and kitchen circuit (14) were both on the same phase (A) in the sub-panel, so I asked him to plug the vacuum sealer into the other kitchen circuit (which was on B phase in the sub-panel) to see if it reacted the same and it did. It would consistently trip the washing machine circuit breaker (only while the washing machine is running) regardless of which kitchen circuit he was using the sealer on. No other appliances are affected by the vacuum sealer, as he operated the microwave, toaster, at the same time with no issues. Those appliances can also be operated at the same time as the washing machine with no issues at all.
My question is what is the vacuum sealer (while plugged into an entirely different circuit, either A or B phase) doing to the laundry circuit that is causing the breaker to trip? I assume it's neutral related somehow and the GFCI/AFCI sees it as a fault, but I can't make sense of it. And why do no other circuits react this way?? Hope I've explained it well enough, and also hope I'm not missing something simple. Thanks again for any input!
Overview - the customer has a 100 amp sub-panel that was installed for a kitchen and laundry addition that was added to the home a few years ago. I wired the addition, so I can verify that the laundry room is a dedicated circuit, and not tied into either of the kitchen small appliance branch circuits. All circuits are GE 20 amp dual function AFCI/GFCI breakers.
The customer's washing machine will operate with no issues at all, it has never tripped the breaker or had any other problems while running on it's own. However, whenever the customer is in the kitchen and uses his vacuum sealer (FoodSaver FM5200 120v 1.06amp - which is plugged into the kitchen countertop circuit) while the washing machine is running it will trip the dedicated circuit breaker for the washing machine. This only happens while both the washer and vacuum sealer are running simultaneously. The kitchen circuit does NOT trip, just the laundry circuit. It happens very consistently, within 30 seconds of him starting to operate the vacuum sealer. No vacuum sealer being used, no problems. He has stated that he will sometimes see a momentary pause in the vacuum sealer's operation right when the laundry breaker trips.
I swapped the laundry circuit breaker with the dishwasher breaker just to verify it wasn't a breaker issue. It tripped the second breaker also. The laundry breaker (circuit 10) and kitchen circuit (14) were both on the same phase (A) in the sub-panel, so I asked him to plug the vacuum sealer into the other kitchen circuit (which was on B phase in the sub-panel) to see if it reacted the same and it did. It would consistently trip the washing machine circuit breaker (only while the washing machine is running) regardless of which kitchen circuit he was using the sealer on. No other appliances are affected by the vacuum sealer, as he operated the microwave, toaster, at the same time with no issues. Those appliances can also be operated at the same time as the washing machine with no issues at all.
My question is what is the vacuum sealer (while plugged into an entirely different circuit, either A or B phase) doing to the laundry circuit that is causing the breaker to trip? I assume it's neutral related somehow and the GFCI/AFCI sees it as a fault, but I can't make sense of it. And why do no other circuits react this way?? Hope I've explained it well enough, and also hope I'm not missing something simple. Thanks again for any input!
