I've had this problem with my 99 and now my 04. You have to pull the block heater plug outside of the truck to plug it in. Once and a while just from dripping or melting snow on the truck it gets the plug wet which in turn trips the GFI. I've thought about putting a small length of bike innertube over the plug on the truck end and zip tie it plus wrap with elec tape to stop the water from dripping onto the Plug. Anybody else have this problem and what was your fix. I like the block heater on cold mornings but like this morning it was 7 degrees and the GFI had tripped during the nite.

 

how about this :
http://www.kussmaul.com/

or this:
the Marinco plug that has a cover on it...

 

One problem we have here in Colorado is the Magnesium Chloride they use for a de-icer on the roads and I suspect that you get salt in Ohio. You have to keep the plug very clean with a GFI since it only takes a few milliamps of cross terminal leakage to trip them.

 

Yeah we get all that salt and other liquids they spread on the roads. It's rough on the trucks sheet metal. I try to clean the plugs. Normally spray some WD40 on it. I just tried the cheap fix with the innertube I'll see if it works. It's gonna get cold again tonite.

 

I had the same thing happen to me. I am a electrician and I just took it off the GFIC. In CT you don't need a GFIC for a truck heater. It is a good thing to do but the risk of shock in low. My GFIC failed and shot the cover off. 5-8 millamps is all you need to trip them. You can buy GFIC breakers with Variable Sensitivity. There are also in-use covers and snap on plug covers if you want try to keep the GFIC. Good luck

Casey
E-2

 

Casey I understand the GFI thing But I know the problem is water or another thing causing the gfi to trip. It only trips for the block heater nothing else. I just plugged it in tonite after doing my cheap fix. Every thing looked dry but it tripped the GFI. So out with the WD40 sprayed both plugs shook them off plugged it in and it worked. So I guess I'll see in the morning if it works.

 

Up in Alaska, is plug it in or they complain bitterly. Have had them trip on the GFI when it was wet snow, but one kept tripping the GFI. Ended up replacing the block heater. The heater elment definitely shorted to ground.

 

I saw on the diesel stop (it's ok to post about other sites, right?) where a guy bought a Marinco outlet from a marine supply store and installed it on his truck. The outlet has a cover on it, and the install was very clean looking. I'm not sure if it addresses the issue that you are having or not, but you may want to try and search for it. He has some good pics available.

I found the write up here

 

I bought a male recepticle, like the ones on big rigs from a Mack dealer. It looks very Trucky, just haven't figured where to mount it.

 

I tripped my gfi while I was half asleep, running my snow blower the other morning. Yeah, you probably guessed it. I ran over the extension cord. Hadn't had my coffee yet. Boy, what a sight when I saw the snow jumping and flinging in front of me in the dark in the snow blower lights. Trashed the extension cord. Nice one too.

 

OOPS !!!!!!!!!!!

I've put metal sheaths on all my extension cords since my wife likes to chop them up with the hedge trimmers

but can't imagine a sheath strong enough to handle a snow blower

 

jd...that's because we do not understand the need of a snow blower. If it snows in Oklahoma they shut everything down in DFW.

 

Made sure to bring sun block and extra water for my bike ride at lunch today. It's already 66 deg and we're expecting a high of 73 today. Whew, glad the A/C is working at the office today

 

You flat land guys.....I was in snow 25 feet deep this week end, counted 26 avalanches.
Got to drive an 05 x for the weekend….sure do wish I had mine back.
I will try and post some pic next week, got some good ones with the X and real deep snow

 

Rocknut,

I did not understand your GFI was tripping for no real reason. Any leak to Ground will also trip the GFI. This may be due to the elements leaking to ground. As our heaters get hot they may create a small capacitance (due to inductance) this would also trip the GFI. I'am out of ideas, good luck.