Its going to draw more amps when cold. Thats why it didnt trip after you had it plugged it to the other outlet. Remove all the other loads that are on that same GFI line. There may be some in the house on it as well.
Its going to draw more amps when cold. Thats why it didnt trip after you had it plugged it to the other outlet. Remove all the other loads that are on that same GFI line. There may be some in the house on it as well.
If the house is new enough to require a GFI outlet in the garage, it should be isolated and not tied with anything else in the house. That's how I've always wired up garage outlets. I'm a not a big fan of tying random rooms together on the same circuit.
__________________ 2004 F250 SD CC 4x4 Lariat 6.0 PSD
-430rwhp w/ a few mods.
Well I have discovered one outlet in my kitchen that is closest to the garage on my garage GFI. Not what I would do if I built it.
I have a freezer and my water softener on it. Sometimes when I kick on the compressor it will kick the GFI, not the breaker though.
The extension cord is a real nice one and not the cheap thin one, but it is really long. The GFI outlet is about 10 years old and it is in the garage but it is tied to the 2 outdoor outlets which have Christmas lights plugged in to them but they are not on. I tried another cord (cheapie kind) and it still tripped it and I tried the GFI outlet in the kitchen and it tripped that too.
I work in the health care field. We have to use hospital grade GFCI's. I got a recall notice about Hubbel having a major recall for faulty GFCI's. I can't remember if it was all of Hubbel GFCI's or just the hospital grade. I'll check Monday when I get to my office.
If the house is new enough to require a GFI outlet in the garage, it should be isolated and not tied with anything else in the house. That's how I've always wired up garage outlets. I'm a not a big fan of tying random rooms together on the same circuit.
See Nec sec. 210.11 (c) (1), it tells us about required branch circuts. Many houses have the garage circut tied to other locations Ex. front and back porches. As for the GFCI tripping they do go bad over time when under a lot of load. Try replacing it but be sure to remember to check your LINE and LOAD .
I am gonna go pick up a new GFI outlet in a little bit, is there anything I should know about doing this, I don't know electrical lingo too good so keep it simple if possible. I shut the breaker off, took the face plate off and looked at it and there are 2 Hots(black) 2 whites and a ground, seems pretty basic for replacing. Any tips or special ones I should buy.
Not to step on any other electricians or engineers here. But some more info is in order here to clear up some misinfo.
GFCI's have absolutely nothing to do with how much current you are drawing from a given circuit! It doesn't matter if your Christmas lights are on, or any other load that is on the same circuit. What receptacles are wired to each other in a home is up to the electrician that wires it and the NEC and local codes. This isn't the forum to discuss that though as all three have their own pecularities. GFI's compare what goes out to what comes back. It must be equal. If not within about 5mA, it will trip. It has nothing to do with what a circuit breaker does, which is overload and short circuits. You can overload a GFI all day and it won't care, as long as what goes out comes back! Same thing applies to a short circuit, only you are now talking about currents in the range of thousands, albiet in a very short time until the breaker trips. The GFI doesn't care how much current goes out, only that it all comes back. Otherwise, it must be finding ground THROUGH some other path, and if that path is a human being, you want the GFI to shut off and save your life.
Several people tried to explain this but I thought it needed clarification. When Joe Public chimes in with his own wiring knowledge, it can get people in trouble. Everyone thinks they can wire right? If the light comes on when you flip the switch it must be right, right?
GFI's will go bad, especially in the garage or outdoors. The moisture in the air is enough to cause premature failure over time. Hubbel did have some issues a while back, but those have been addressed. Today the GFI is much more robust then even two years ago and the differences between manufactures is smaller then it used to be. Used to be you could change one out with a different brand and get a problem to go away. That isn't as likely today.
Cords can have "opens" in a wire that will be intermittent as you move the cord and handle it. That open is enough to cause a GFI to trip. Most Joes call an open in a cord a 'short'. Moisture on the end can also cause a trip. Just wipe it off. Water is not as good a conductor as most people think, but it only takes about 5mA to trip a unit. 5mA is .005A. The size of the cord (AWG) or length has nothing to do with it either.
Check out the truck as rubbing could be a concern. FYI, the heater draws the same current cold or hot.
Don't buy a cheap GFI from some China brand. Buy one from P&S, Levition, Hubbel, and perhaps Eagle. There might be others that are good also, but you get what you pay for. Just make sure to hook up the line to the line side and the load to the load side. That means the hot wire and its neutral to the 'line' terminals and the other black and white to the other terminals marked 'load', if there are two others.
Well I have discovered one outlet in my kitchen that is closest to the garage on my garage GFI. Not what I would do if I built it.
I have a freezer and my water softener on it. Sometimes when I kick on the compressor it will kick the GFI, not the breaker though.
Also, freezers and refrig's in the garage should not be plugged into GFI outlets. That also applies to the basement, if unfinished, again, depending on codes. Newer freezers etc have less leakage current then older models when new, however, as they age the compressor can start to increase the leakage current to a level which the GFI will sense and trip. It can be very unpleasant to open the freezer and find all your venison, duck, pheasant or for you city folk, cow thawed out. Simply because of a nuisance leakage current that is considered normal for compressors.
thanks for the info, the new GFI is a Levition and it had four wires 2 load wires and two line wires and of course a ground. I wired it correctly. I guess this means it is the truck, which sucks, I might have to use a regular outlet (plug it into the truck first and then plug it into the outlet) until I can try to find sometime to have my horrendous dealer look at it but the truck is my only vehicle in the winter, hopefully they can give me a loaner. Maybe I will see if my buddy who is a good mechanic would be able to do it under warranty. I don't know.
scafes was absolutely right on, if youve already replaced the gfci & ruled that out then current is finding an easier path back to ground than through the neutral wire. it only takes a little bit of moisture on the end of a cord to trip a gfci. Ive seen chafed wires inside a cord & youd never know by inspecting the outside of it.just check everything & dont plug it in to a non gfci knowing there is a problem you wouldnt want to become the path of least resistance.......good luck!
[quote=Mustangbru8]The extension cord is a real nice one and not the cheap thin one, but it is really long. The GFI outlet is about 10 years old and it is in the garage but it is tied to the 2 outdoor outlets which have Christmas lights plugged in to them but they are not on. I tried another cord (cheapie kind) and it still tripped it and I tried the GFI outlet in the kitchen and it tripped that too.[/QUOTE]
Ok people we need to read a little better, Im not trying to insult anyone here but when mustangbru said he tried a different gfi and it still trips it and he also made sure the extension cord was good by trying a different one that should tell us immediatly that its the truck. (Now if it poped the same circuit breaker each time the answer would be different)
Mustangbru, If I were you i wouldn't waste your time and just get an new core heater and a new cord for it on the truck. The cords are replaceable and might be a quicker and cheaper option to try first, not to hard either. If that dosen't work, then your heater core is shorting out and you want to replace that before you keep using it to prevent a fire or a possible shock to yourself or anyone who touches the truck.
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