[trishandscott]

Hi, I have a GFCI breaker that pops when we vacuum in any room in the back of the house. Since we could be using 4 different plugs that pop the same breaker, would you start with the breaker? Also, would it be unwise to go to a 20 amp GFCI breaker :eek: ? Thanks Scott

[tkrussell]

You can only change the breaker to a 20 amp if the entire circuit is #12 copper wiring.

The 15 amp GFI breaker may be defective, or there may be an overload on the circuit with the vacuum.

Only measuring the amperes on the circuit will help pin this down. Just replacing the breaker with a new one may not solve the problem.

[trishandscott]

To measure the amps do I just put a meter on the different plugs in the house or on the breaker? Thanks

[KISS]

The easiest way is with a clamp on meter such as this one. Ideal 61-701 Clamp Meter, 200AMP, Ideal 701, 61-701, 61701

This Extech Instruments: Clamp-on Meters: Accessories: 480172 allows you to measure an existing appliance with the above meter.

For these meters to work, one side of the line (one of the wires L or N) must go through the clamp.

The clamp meter can also be used at the breaker box without the adapter.

The "adapter" can be made from a few short lengths of wire, a plug and a female cord connector.

The other way is to use the ammeter function of a multimeter.

A real simple solution might be this: Ross Olson's Order Somewhere Chaos + Kill A Watt Home Wattage Meter

A meter such as this one: http://www.groundtesterstore.com/crm...ds/2117.56.pdf

~$270 can evaluate both the leakage currents which would trip the GFCI and the load current.

As with all test equipment, you need to know how to use them properly. Your trying to identify which part is bad: GFCI, house Wiring, vacuum wiring, vacuum overload or breaker.

With the proper tools you can identify the problem with proper measurements. Amp draw of the vacuum and leakage current of the vacuum. With this you can eliminate the vacuum.

Measuring the current at the breaker, you can eliminate the breaker. The breaker must carry the vacuum + any static load.

Wall wiring typically doesn't go bad, so you'd replace the breaker.

So each tool I suggested either allows you to get to part, but not all of the problem except one meter. Even the Kill A watt can only determine if the vacuum is malfunctioning. It can't easily tell you if the circuit is overloaded.

There are ways to measure leakage currents without all of the fancy meters, but I forget from my electronics servicing days. I think it was something like measuring the voltage drop across a 10K resistor from ground to any exposed metal parts when the ground connection was removed and converting that to a current.