Dishwasher trips breaker immediately--need troubleshooting help
#1
09-02-14, 05:10 PM
Dishwasher trips breaker immediately--need troubleshooting help
After some kitchen renovations the dishwasher was reinstalled and it trips the breaker instantly. All connections seem good. The house wiring is interesting to say the least. There is a junction box on the wall behind the dishwasher. The wire coming into the junction box has two hot wires. One powers the dishwasher on its own circuit, and the other powers some of the kitchen outlets on a different circuit. They share the ground. There was also a switch on the dishwasher line that we removed but I can't believe that would have anything to do with the issue. We disconnected the dishwasher circuit and attached the dishwasher solely to the outlet circuit and it tripped that breaker immediately as well. To me there is a problem with the dishwasher itself. I guess it's just coincidental that it happened to work fine when we removed it and now it doesn't. If anyone has any tips on how to troubleshoot this dead short I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance.
#2
09-02-14, 05:55 PM
How many and what color wires in the dishwasher circuit box. Was the switch where power came in or was it a switch loop with power at the DW.
No, not two wires**, two cables*. A very different thing.
I suspect that is where the problem is. Explain the wiring and what you did.
*Cable: Two or more conductors in a metallic or non metallic sheath.
**Wire: A single conductor.
The wire coming into the junction box has two hot wires. One powers the dishwasher on its own circuit, and the other powers some of the kitchen outlets on a different circuit.
There was also a switch on the dishwasher line that we removed but I can't believe that would have anything to do with the issue.
*Cable: Two or more conductors in a metallic or non metallic sheath.
**Wire: A single conductor.
#3
09-03-14, 04:45 PM
It was two hot wires in one cable (red, black, white, and copper). Of course the red and black were hot. The red is the dishwasher circuit. The black is for two GFCI outlets (separate circuit). The white wires were twisted together. We found that when we undid the white wires and connected the single white and the red to the dishwasher, it worked fine. SO we concluded that there is an issue with the cable that goes from that junction box to the two outlets. Clearly something with the white wire. Possibly a mouse chewed it somewhere in the wall. Could a bad GFCI cause this problem?
#5
09-03-14, 05:12 PM
Group Moderator
You connect white and red to dishwasher and that circuit was ok.
Now disconnect the white and red from the dishwasher and connect the black and white to the receptacles. Do the receptacles work ok ?
Yes... they share the same BARE ground and they also share the white wire which is neutral... not ground.
Now disconnect the white and red from the dishwasher and connect the black and white to the receptacles. Do the receptacles work ok ?
They share the ground.
#8
09-04-14, 08:23 PM
Group Moderator
It would appear that it was a GFCI that was tripping and it may have been caused by introducing ground on the neutral wire.
#10
09-07-14, 05:38 AM
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Originally Posted by dirtydickey
Why would you have a dishwasher on a gfci?
Troubleshooting. Always start from the end and work your way to the panel..
Disconnect the nm at the dishwasher cap it off and see if your breaker trips.. If so, disconnect the feed from the junction box and see if it trips if not then the problem is in your outlet circuit. However if it still trips with nothing being fed by that home run, then the problem is in the home run itself.. Hope that makes sense
#11
09-07-14, 08:36 AM
Group Moderator
I don't remember any mention of the dishwasher being on a GFI circuit although we never did get the full story.
