GCFI Outlet keeps tripping in my garage???


  #1  
Old 07-22-12, 09:07 PM
G
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 2
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
GCFI Outlet keeps tripping in my garage???

My wife was using her hair hot iron thingy and other hair beautification stuff without a problem one morning. The next morning she woke me saying she couldn't use any of her nice and fancy beautification tools. So I got up and slowly slipped my flip flops on to walk into the garage where the breaker box is, to check for a tripped breaker. Well I tripped the breaker to that outlet several times hoping to hear my wife scream in joy that her beautification tools were back on, but that never did occur. So the next step I did was walk around looking for a tripped GCFI outlet. I found the culprit back out in the garage where my full deep freezer and second full fridge was plugged in to. Well by the time my wife woke up it had been several hours before we found this tripped GCFI outlet so all of our food in both were completely warm. I have unplugged my larger deep freezer and reset the GCFI outlet with the fridge still plugged in. It comes back on and my wife's beautification tool's also worked just fine. But after awhile the GCFI trip's off again. Anyways! Can you please help me figure out what is causing this GCFI outlet to continue to trip?
 

Last edited by G. Morris; 07-22-12 at 09:38 PM.
  #2  
Old 07-22-12, 09:24 PM
Nashkat1's Avatar
Member
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: USA
Posts: 7,458
Upvotes: 0
Received 6 Upvotes on 5 Posts
Welcome to the forums!

If that GFCI is tripping without her tools in use, then the problem may be a short developing in either the freezer or the fridge. Or it could be that the GFCI is starting to fail. I would isolate one of those two appliances by using a heavy-duty extension cord to feed it from a different circuit. If all holds for three days to a week, I woould plug that one back in and isolate the other one.

If the problem recurs when only one is plugged in to the tripping circuit, then you have found the problem. If it recurs when either one is plugged into it, I would replace the GFCI. If it doesn't recur when only one is plugged in, then I would relocate one of those so that it can be permanently plugged into a different circuit.
 
  #3  
Old 07-23-12, 11:06 AM
G
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 2
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Nashkat1,

Thank you very much for the warm welcome.

I am going to play around with all of the different item's plugged into the outlets to see if I can figure out which one if any is actually tripping the GCFI, or if it is going bad itself. I'll definitely update this forum either way. Again, Thanks!


Sincerely,
G. Morris
 
 

Thread Tools
Search this Thread
 
Ask a Question
Question Title:
Description:
Your question will be posted in: