GFCI Insta-pop

[SSteve]

I'm certain this has been brought up before, but thought I'd throw it out again.

Had the Lav GFCI shut off. Pressing the reset resulted in an instant shut-off.

Switched off the circuit breaker and pulled the GFCI from the wall. Found two wires hanging loose and the other three connections loose (all 5 wires with problems--2 gozintas, 2 gozoutas, 1 ground). This is the first 120 volt outlet device I've seen in the coach with screws on the connections.

Reinstalled unattached wires and tightened all connections.

Seems cured.

Steve

[DriVer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SSteve Seems cured.

Steve, Perhaps one of the gozintas was touching a ground screw and this would cause the GFI to trip. I doubt that there would be a situation where the GFCI would trip due to a leak in betwen a black gozinta and a white gozoutas which would also trip the GFCI.

[wa8yxm]

I am fond of saying we RVers often have a few screws loose.. (The kind you tighten with a screwdriver)

here is what happens.. You have brass terminals and copper wires.. Both metals "expand" when heated and contract when cooled but NOT at the same rate

now.. if you really tighten the screws.. This may not be a problem

But tightened to spec, which is closer to how they do it, as the rig warms and cools and vibrates (They really are not meant to go down Washboard Road at 55mph.. That's the outlets and breakers, the motor home.. Well it may be) the wires flatten a bit and come loose

Some of the circuit breakers in my coach, when it was only about six months old.. I took my #2 square drive and tightened them over 1 1/2 turn.

That's how loose they were

As Rachel the RV-GIRL says.. When I tighten them..... They don't come loose

[SSteve]

With apologies,

I made three total mistakes, but only two with this post. First, I should have labeled the original post "FYI". Second, in the interest of brevity, I merged two troubleshooting events into one. The third mistake was the error I made that caused a need for the second event.

The events were...

When I first pulled the GFCI from the wall, I found the two wires that had separated from the device. I reinstalled them and noticed the other two connections were loose. Tightened all four and, after testing, reinserted the device in the wall. Still failed!

Removed the device again (second event), and found it to function normally. Also found the ground connection loose (should have checked it the first time). Tightened it. Case closed. Has worked well for a day now. Maybe not conclusive, but better than not working at all.

I decided to post this because I've seen quite a few GFCI related issues out there and just wanted to offer a possible solution.

Steve