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Any electricians here?

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 11:55 am
by Minrott
Whomever built this house was adequate at a lot of things and master of none. I'm not an electrician but there are a lot of things about the way the place was wired that don't seem quite right to me.


The problem that's bugging me the most is that there is a GFCI outlet on the kitchen counter that's not only feeding another outlet, it's feeding a light fixture above the sink.

This light above the sink has been tripping the GFCI on and off for about a year now (sometimes it trips, sometimes it doesn't, I can't repeat it or determine a cause.)

Today the people buying our house (we're moving) did a final walk through, and of course although that light worked during the inspection, and we had it on all day yesterday, today it trips the GFCI.

I took the light fixture down and all connections seem to be good, I took the fed outlet out and that's good, and all the connections in the GFCI are correct too. I replaced the GFCI with a new outlet, still no luck.

I plugged a lamp with the same wattage as the light fixture into the fed outlet, and it does NOT trip the GFCI, so it has to but something about the light fixture itself. Is there anything I can do to fix this? I know, I should have had it fixed earlier, but it was behaving and I didn't even think of it with the million other things going on.

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:33 pm
by Xaiveir
do you Have any idea if any other outlets are on the same chain with that one? If its on a chain, and something else is already running on that strand, it could trip it.

Check by turning EVERYTHING on in the house, and try to trip it that way. See if you cant find what else is pullin amps from that strand. It could be something in another part of the house thats connected that is related to it tripping.

You may want an electirtian to come out and make sure the breaker size is correct for that load that it pulls. That is actually a pretty common problem.

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:46 pm
by Minrott
GFCI's aren't breakers per say. Yes, they interrupt a circuit to protect you, but they don't trip because something is drawing more amperage than it should, they measure for a ground fault by checking the difference in line/load.

I figured it out. The light fixture must have been bleeding a small amount of current through the ground. Light goes on, buyers will be happy.

I'm wiping my brow too because these fucking assholes were flipping out about the fact that there's only 1 remote control for the garage door opener, like it was a deal breaker if they couldn't get another one. Christ I hate people who sweat the small stuff.

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:49 pm
by Xaiveir
Jesus only 1 garage door opener? Living in the stone age are we?!?!?!?!

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:51 pm
by Minrott
lol, it had 2, I think they all come with 2, but one doesn't work. New batteries didn't help and since it's a single car garage we didn't care.

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:57 pm
by Bodin
Speaking of that ya know it took the peeps that bought our old house 2 years to change the garage door code....

Glad it worked out Minrott

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 4:49 pm
by 10sun
If it is a recessed light, it could be too much insulation around it, causing it to overheat which fricks with things.

Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 6:23 pm
by Dylan
Tell them to send me the old garage door opener and single remote and buy themselves a new one with as many remotes as they want!