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Question for electricians re: GFI outlet Login/Join 
Smarter than the
average bear
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I don’t know how long it takes to trip the GFI because up until now I’ve only noticed it periodically. I’m watching it now, reset it yesterday morning, and it hasn’t tripped after 24 hours. The golden rod in the safe is static, so it certainly seems to me that if it is defective it would trip the GFI more often. How could it just randomly leak current but not all the time?

It seems that nothing else is being fed by this GFI, as everything else works that I’m aware of. I guess I can’t rule out an outside receptacle or some line that isn’t being used. When I pull it to replace it I will know if it is feeding anything else. It has been tripped for unknown periods of time, and nothing else stopped working. It’s low on a back wall of built in shelves, and is old with no light to indicate it has tripped, so I have to get on my knees and look closely to find out.

The other outlets in the bathroom are GFI outlets which seem to be working. So these are protected regardless of the one in the closet, right?

So if I pull it and nothing is being fed past it, is there any reason to go back with a GFI? I think my plan is to buy a regular and a GFI, and if it does have lines feeding out use the new GFI, and if not, put the regular outlet in. Anything wrong with that?
 
Posts: 3440 | Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana | Registered: June 20, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
I Deal In Lead
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quote:
Originally posted by honestlou:
I don’t know how long it takes to trip the GFI because up until now I’ve only noticed it periodically. I’m watching it now, reset it yesterday morning, and it hasn’t tripped after 24 hours. The golden rod in the safe is static, so it certainly seems to me that if it is defective it would trip the GFI more often. How could it just randomly leak current but not all the time?



The way it could happen is that it might be right on the edge of tripping and a slight increase in voltage at the mains might push it over the edge.

Example:

Let's say it takes 5mA to trip it. Then let's say it's actually crawing 4.9mA.

Perhaps the voltage rises a few percent, then the leakage will also increase slightly to 5mA and it trips.

It's possible.
 
Posts: 10626 | Location: Gilbert Arizona | Registered: March 21, 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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^^^Actually the opposite would be true...

Per Ohms Law, Current in a electrical circuit is calculated by dividing the Voltage by the Resistance. In other words, the Current is directly proportional to the Voltage and inversely proportional to the Resistance. In this case if you're concerned with Current, I=v/r, and as the Resistance is constant, if the Voltage were to increase, the Current would be lower, NOT higher.


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Posts: 8933 | Location: New Hampshire | Registered: October 29, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
I Deal In Lead
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quote:
Originally posted by nhracecraft:
^^^Actually the opposite would be true...

Per Ohms Law, Current in a electrical circuit is calculated by dividing the Voltage by the Resistance. In other words, the Current is directly proportional to the Voltage and inversely proportional to the Resistance. In this case if you're concerned with Current, I=v/r, and as the Resistance is constant, if the Voltage were to increase, the Current would be lower, NOT higher.


Absolutely correct. I shouldn't post when half awake.
 
Posts: 10626 | Location: Gilbert Arizona | Registered: March 21, 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
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quote:
Originally posted by nhracecraft:
^^^Actually the opposite would be true...

Per Ohms Law, Current in a electrical circuit is calculated by dividing the Voltage by the Resistance. In other words, the Current is directly proportional to the Voltage and inversely proportional to the Resistance. In this case if you're concerned with Current, I=v/r, and as the Resistance is constant, if the Voltage were to increase, the Current would be lower, NOT higher.

Seems bass-ackwards to me.

Won't effect my pay either way. Razz
 
Posts: 1352 | Location: WI | Registered: July 07, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Ignored facts
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In this case if you're concerned with Current, I=v/r, and as the Resistance is constant, if the Voltage were to increase, the Current would be lower, NOT higher.


No, in this equation with constant R, if V increases, then I also increases.


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Posts: 10930 | Location: 45 miles from the Pacific Ocean | Registered: February 28, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Hold on a second...That makes no sense! I shouldn't post when half awake either! Now I'm confused... Wink

In a given circuit, if the Voltage drops, shouldn't the Current drawn by the load increase? I guess I'm thinking of Power in this relationship, where I=P/V


____________________________________________________________

If Some is Good, and More is Better.....then Too Much, is Just Enough !!
Trump 2024....Save America!
"May Almighty God bless the United States of America" - parabellum 7/26/20
Live Free or Die!
 
Posts: 8933 | Location: New Hampshire | Registered: October 29, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Thank you
Very little
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quote:
Originally posted by honestlou:
I don’t know how long it takes to trip the GFI because up until now I’ve only noticed it periodically. I’m watching it now, reset it yesterday morning, and it hasn’t tripped after 24 hours. The golden rod in the safe is static, so it certainly seems to me that if it is defective it would trip the GFI more often. How could it just randomly leak current but not all the time?


Anything is possible from a defective GFCI outlet to a loose wire or the goldenrod itself.

quote:
It seems that nothing else is being fed by this GFI, as everything else works that I’m aware of. I guess I can’t rule out an outside receptacle or some line that isn’t being used. When I pull it to replace it I will know if it is feeding anything else. It has been tripped for unknown periods of time, and nothing else stopped working. It’s low on a back wall of built in shelves, and is old with no light to indicate it has tripped, so I have to get on my knees and look closely to find out.


It may not be, the GFCI in our master bath also protects the front porch outlet, when we have Christmas lights out and it rains if the lights are on it can trip that outlet, so it may be protecting other outlets elsewhere in the house.


quote:
The other outlets in the bathroom are GFI outlets which seem to be working. So these are protected regardless of the one in the closet, right?'


Well if you trip those other GFCI outlets, then test each outlet in the bath you will know.


quote:
So if I pull it and nothing is being fed past it, is there any reason to go back with a GFI? I think my plan is to buy a regular and a GFI, and if it does have lines feeding out use the new GFI, and if not, put the regular outlet in. Anything wrong with that?


Only if it has another outlet somewhere that it's protecting that you're not aware of, such as ours protecting an outdoor plug, we would never have known it until it rained on our christmas lights one year. You could pop the GFCI into the off position and then check all the plugs around the house to see if any are dead, then reset and check the same plug to see if it's now live...
 
Posts: 23525 | Location: Florida | Registered: November 07, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
So if I pull it and nothing is being fed past it, is there any reason to go back with a GFI? I think my plan is to buy a regular and a GFI, and if it does have lines feeding out use the new GFI, and if not, put the regular outlet in. Anything wrong with that?


Correct. The fastest, easiest, and most foolproof way to determine what that GFI is protecting is to pull the plug and see if anything is wired downstream from it. If there is nothing wired downstream (from the back of the plug) and you have nothing that you want to protect in the closet then you certainly could just replace the plug with a non-protected plug.
 
Posts: 1995 | Location: DFW Texas | Registered: March 13, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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So I'm assuming that the Golden Rod has no frayed or cracked insulation on the cord, no pinches, or other obvious damage, where a small current could leak from the unit to ground? Correct?

in particular near the hole where the cord enters the safe.


----------------------
Let's Go Brandon!
 
Posts: 10930 | Location: 45 miles from the Pacific Ocean | Registered: February 28, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Ignored facts
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quote:
Originally posted by nhracecraft:
Hold on a second...That makes no sense! I shouldn't post when half awake either! Now I'm confused... Wink

In a given circuit, if the Voltage drops, shouldn't the Current drawn by the load increase? I guess I'm thinking of Power in this relationship, where I=P/V


For a linear circuit like just a resistor as a load, if voltage increases, then the current increases.

There are some circuits where constant power is needed, where the current would decrease if voltage is increased, but that's beyond the scope of this discussion.


----------------------
Let's Go Brandon!
 
Posts: 10930 | Location: 45 miles from the Pacific Ocean | Registered: February 28, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by radioman:
So I'm assuming that the Golden Rod has no frayed or cracked insulation on the cord, no pinches, or other obvious damage, where a small current could leak from the unit to ground? Correct?

in particular near the hole where the cord enters the safe.


That is correct. It’s a Liberty safe and I installed the “power outlet kit”, which mounts on the back wall of the safe. It basically has pass through for electrical, usb, and Ethernet. The golden rod is plugged into the inside, and a short extension cord feeds the outside from the outlet in question.
 
Posts: 3440 | Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana | Registered: June 20, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Ammoholic
Picture of Skins2881
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quote:
Originally posted by honestlou:
I don’t know how long it takes to trip the GFI because up until now I’ve only noticed it periodically. I’m watching it now, reset it yesterday morning, and it hasn’t tripped after 24 hours. The golden rod in the safe is static, so it certainly seems to me that if it is defective it would trip the GFI more often. How could it just randomly leak current but not all the time?

It seems that nothing else is being fed by this GFI, as everything else works that I’m aware of. I guess I can’t rule out an outside receptacle or some line that isn’t being used. When I pull it to replace it I will know if it is feeding anything else. It has been tripped for unknown periods of time, and nothing else stopped working. It’s low on a back wall of built in shelves, and is old with no light to indicate it has tripped, so I have to get on my knees and look closely to find out.

The other outlets in the bathroom are GFI outlets which seem to be working. So these are protected regardless of the one in the closet, right?

So if I pull it and nothing is being fed past it, is there any reason to go back with a GFI? I think my plan is to buy a regular and a GFI, and if it does have lines feeding out use the new GFI, and if not, put the regular outlet in. Anything wrong with that?


Did you trip the GFI and check shower light/fan if there is one(s) installed over shower/tub are still working? The other thing that GFI may feed is attic outlets. Same test, trip GFI and check for power at attic outlets.



Jesse

Sic Semper Tyrannis
 
Posts: 20836 | Location: Loudoun County, Virginia | Registered: December 27, 2014Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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honestlou, you need to know if the GFCI has wires going on. From your posts I would guess that it does and this is the source of your problem since you can not duplicate the tripping with just the goldenrod plugged in.
 
Posts: 1198 | Location: Moved to N.W. MT. | Registered: April 26, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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