GFI keeps tripping?? little help please

[FLYING BUTCH]

our 04 Beaver Marquie has a side sink across from the bathroom. My wife used the hair dryer the other day on the 110 outlet. Now when we are watching TV the gfi keeps tripping on that outlet. I looked on the breaker box and the TV is hooked in with this outlet. We have never had this problem before. Any ideas what might be going on? Thanks in advance for any information.

[mahon1993]

Two possibilities, could the GFI outlet gotten wet. Might there be some water splashed in it? Or, GFI outlets do go bad. This has happened to me more than once. If it has been working all along and suddenly is acting up, I think it went bad.
Greg

[Dr4Film]

Sometimes, GFI breakers just get old and cranky. Once that happens, they will not work properly anymore. I had one in my rear panel that did exactly that for no reason and it was on a circuit that I seldom use.

Make sure you replace the GFI breaker with the exact same model and manufacturer that is in there now. Otherwise it may cause you problems when running your inverter.

Dr4Film ----- Richard.

[HD4Mark]

It is possible the GFI is worn out and a replacement would solve it. They do tend to string a couple of outlets from one so you could take a look around to see if another outlet is dead just to be sure something else isn't tripping it. In our MH there is a GFI on the side of the fridge cabinet near the floor. It feeds the outlet next to the bath sink. I would never have figured but was looking at the wiring diagram and noticed it. If that one ever popped it would have been an Easter egg hunt looking for it.

[wa8yxm]

It is possible that what your wife did has nothing to do with it.. I will cover TWO posibilities and mention a 3rd

First the 3rd. As someone up-thread mentioned, It may have gotten wet.. My house had an outlet very poorly placed, My wife actually showered the outlet with the shower and of course, things in that room got dark real fast.

Now the two posibilities

1: the patio (outside) outlet is very likely on this loop too, these are often the culprit. Check it out if all else fails.

1B: One member had a pair of junction boxes full of water under his slide.

2: (Low probility) your wife may have done it... Now, with the single exception of the GFCI outlet, which usually connects differently, the wires to the outlets in many motor homes are not all that well connected,, They use the el-cheapo push in connecition insteead of bending wire properly around a well tightened screw. This can cause a conneciton to fail. The GFCI however, due to all the electronics crammed into the case, usually has leads and is attached with wire nuts.

I'd check those first.

She may have burned out the outlet but the odds of that are so low as to.. Well, let's just say I'd be surprised,, If she did it indicates a bad outlet to begin with by the way.

(We use electric space heaters in our motor home when we can. To do this I have 2 dedicated 20 amp type outlets, these two outlets are.

1: A different color (Black, rest of the outlets are off-white)
2: 15/20 amp (With the "T" shaped neutral slot)
3: The only thing on the wire other than the circuit breaker feeding them and thus the only outlet on that breaker.
4: Hooked up by bending wire around a screw and tightening it well
5: 12ga wire

Suffice to say they do not give me any trouble at all.

[RJay]

Does the hair dryer have a polarized plug? If you look at the two prongs on the plug and one has a flared tip then it's polarized and can only fit in the receptacle one way. If not try reversing the plug in the receptacle.

[JFC]

I have an 07 Scepter with a GFI on the hall bath sink. We started having that GFI trip and take out the 110v in front, TV etc. Made me nuts why it would trip until I noticed that whenever the icemaker went to drop a load of ice, the GFI tripped. Turns out there was a wire to the heating element for the icemaker that was frayed. Repaired that and no problems for a year, then it started again. This time I knew to unplug the icemaker in the outside refrigerator compartment. Replaced ice maker and no problems since.

[RJay]

GFI's can be a real pain in the butt when they act up. But they're just letting us know when there is a small problem getting ready to be a really big one. Glad you found the problem, and that was a good piece of troubleshooting you did there.

[Mike Canter]

RJay, where does it say FLYINGBUTCH found the problem? Was it via a PM, if so can you tell us what the problem and fix was. Thanks

[FLYING BUTCH]

Hey everyone thanks so much for all the valuable info. I don't believe it got wet. I am going to replace the GFI outlet first as I didn't know they ever went bad. That maybe the problem as nothing else has changed. Thanks again all

[wa8yxm]

Everything made by man fails sooner or later... Some sooner, GFCI's generally later, but they can indeed go bad.

[RJay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Canter RJay, where does it say FLYINGBUTCH found the problem? Was it via a PM, if so can you tell us what the problem and fix was. Thanks

I was responding to JFC's post.

[SteveLevin]

As others have said, check EVERYTHING that's on the GFI loop. I once spent the most frustrating evening trying to solve a similar issue and found a bad plug that was slightly loose in the rear bedroom for a clock (of all low-draw things). Wasn't helped by the fact that it turns out that while the documentation "said" that the GFI loop was on the right side of the coach... turns out to be reversed in the bedroom

Steve