steel1
Dec 13, 2006, 02:34 PM
I know a little about electrical (enough to be dangerous anyway lol). The problem I am having is the GFCI keeps tripping. It is located in the garage and it controls (itself included the GFCI outlet) 6 receptacles. I have nothing plugged into it and I have replaced the GCFI outlet itself. But it continues to trip. My question is: How do I locate the problem and what are my options? :confused:
tkrussell
Dec 13, 2006, 04:06 PM
There must a be a ground fault in the circuit wiring or one of the outlets downstream of the GFI. To trace this, start at the end of the circuit, taking apart each wire and outlet, and keep trying to reset the GFI. Once it stays on, then the problem is between the GFI and that point. Then disconnect any outlets in between to see if it is an outlet or a connection. If you need to splice wires in place of each outlet to check each section of cable. I suspect it is a problem at or with an outlet. If not, and you get it down to a section of cable in between two outlets, then that cable will need to be replaced.
Always be sure polarity is correct, meaning black to black and black wires on brass screws of the outlets, white to white and white on the silver screws, and of course grounds on green.
When pulling out each outlet, check that the grounds wires are not touching the silver screws, or any screw on the outlets, other than the green screw.
If I explained this so you can understand you should be able to narrow the problem down, maybe eliminate it.