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Re: GFCI Issues
Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2021 6:10 pm
by garys
25 of them in use seems like a big number, I think I have four or five. I'm guessing yours are not generally wired to provide downstream protection and I kind of like that approach, especially for the garage/shop. I have a refrigerator and freezer in my garage, so nuisance trips can be even more of a nuisance. Most installations I've seen one GFCI outlet or breaker provides protection for several downstream outlets, making it much harder to determine the source of a trip. Is yours wired the way I'm thinking? I'd guess you always use the 'line' terminals and never use the 'load' terminals on the GFCI outlets.(?)
- David
My house and especially my garage are "overwired" by most people's standards. My garage alone has between 25 and 30 receptacles on 8 circuits, so each GFCI handles 2-3 receptacles downstream on the load side. In addition to that, I put in 7 outdoor circuits around the yard on GFCI. When done this way, you never trip a breaker. The breaker boxes for my house and garage contain over 50 breakers total to handle that many separate circuits.
The house also has outdoor circuits on GFCI and more of them in the kitchen and bathrooms as well as the laundry room and my workshop which is in my basement. That adds up to a lot of GFCI outlets, but the basic ones are cheap and none of them give me false trips including the ones in my garage that run my refrigerator and air conditioner.
When the wiring is correct and the appliances are working right, there shouldn't be issues with them tripping.
Re: GFCI Issues
Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2021 6:45 pm
by jsburger
garys wrote: ↑Mon Jun 14, 2021 6:10 pm
25 of them in use seems like a big number, I think I have four or five. I'm guessing yours are not generally wired to provide downstream protection and I kind of like that approach, especially for the garage/shop. I have a refrigerator and freezer in my garage, so nuisance trips can be even more of a nuisance. Most installations I've seen one GFCI outlet or breaker provides protection for several downstream outlets, making it much harder to determine the source of a trip. Is yours wired the way I'm thinking? I'd guess you always use the 'line' terminals and never use the 'load' terminals on the GFCI outlets.(?)
- David
My house and especially my garage are "overwired" by most people's standards. My garage alone has between 25 and 30 receptacles on 8 circuits, so each GFCI handles 2-3 receptacles downstream on the load side. In addition to that, I put in 7 outdoor circuits around the yard on GFCI. When done this way, you never trip a breaker. The breaker boxes for my house and garage contain over 50 breakers total to handle that many separate circuits.
The house also has outdoor circuits on GFCI and more of them in the kitchen and bathrooms as well as the laundry room and my workshop which is in my basement. That adds up to a lot of GFCI outlets, but the basic ones are cheap and none of them give me false trips including the ones in my garage that run my refrigerator and air conditioner.
When the wiring is correct and the appliances are working right, there shouldn't be issues with them tripping.
Maybe that is the problem with all the people that are having trouble with GCFI outlets.