Ground fault outlet went.

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Ground fault outlet went.

February 06, 2014, 07:01:45 pm

Turned my coach around and the Ground Fault outlet in the bathroom went out, thus no power to any of the outlets. Will not reset. None of the circuit breakers in the coach tripped. But the circuit breaker in the garage keeps tripping??? Have turned it off for until I can troubleshoot it better. Will a bad ground fault outlet in the coach cause the garage circuit to trip??? Has been good until I disconnected power cord to move the coach.

And can I replace the coach ground fault outlet with a stick house model???

Re: Ground fault outlet went.

Reply #1 – February 06, 2014, 07:35:33 pm

The only question that I can possibly answer is replacing the GFI. The only ones which I could find locally when mine went and we were on the road was a house model, has worked since.

Re: Ground fault outlet went.

Reply #2 – February 06, 2014, 07:41:12 pm

Pat, you might check the out side power source. Maybe the grounds.
That GFI is a picky *(%@.
Had a generator running on a race car trailer and plugged the MH in. GFI didn't like it at all.
Good Luck......~JL~

Re: Ground fault outlet went.

Reply #3 – February 06, 2014, 08:35:48 pm

Pat, do you have any sort of EMS on your coach? If so, is it giving you any sort of fault indication? If yours is a separate unit (you plug it into the outlet and plug your cord into the unit) it may give you a hint. You could also put a meter on your cord to see if it has a problem.

Re: Ground fault outlet went.

Reply #4 – February 06, 2014, 09:46:13 pm

The only EMS I have is the Progressive Industries SSP 50, the basic unit. Shows no faults. I've turned off the coach circuit breaker that controls the outlets and I now have power to the coach, but not to the outlets. Am thinking that the ground fault outlet is the problem. My #2 son is a fire department building inspector/code enforcement officer and says that a ground fault will cause crazy problems like that. The ground fault outlet will not even try to reset. Push the reset in and it comes right back out, no catch or anything. Going to pick up one tomorrow.

Re: Ground fault outlet went.

Reply #5 – February 06, 2014, 09:59:18 pm

Pat,
If the circuit breaker for the garage trips you may have another problem than the GFI. Does the garage breaker stay closed with nothing plugged in and is there nothing else on that circuit? If it stays closed with nothing plugged in, I suggest you open all the breakers in the coach, plug it in and see if it trips. If okay close the main breaker, and then close all the other breakers one at a time until you find the problem. A tripped GFI should not have anything to do with the garage breaker. The breaker the GFI is on would only trip for an overload, not a ground fault. Make sure nothing is plugged into the outlets downstream from the GFI and there is probably some of those outlets in the lower bays or on the outside of the coach. Maybe a TV or something is plugged into one of those outlets. A defective appliance can trip the GFI.

Re: Ground fault outlet went.

Reply #6 – February 06, 2014, 10:08:08 pm

From this day forward I will only accept advice from an appropriate rated Engineer.

Or a Foretravel owner/maintainer !!!

Re: Ground fault outlet went.

Reply #7 – February 06, 2014, 10:39:23 pm

Quote from: Jerry Whiteaker – February 06, 2014, 09:59:18 pm

A defective appliance can trip the GFI.

But the GFI, probably original from 1994, does not even catch to reset. You push it in and it does not catch at all. It is like there is nothing to hold it in. I've dealt with weak GFIs in past, and they will reset and them pop back out. And you can feel that click when you reset. This one there is nothing. We will find out what is what tomorrow in day light. Right now all the coach circuits are on and powered, except for the outlets. This happened when I plugged back in the shore power after I turned around the coach. And none of the coach breakers tripped. That is all I did, unplug shore power, turn coach around, and plug back in.

Re: Ground fault outlet went.

Reply #8 – February 06, 2014, 10:51:55 pm

Quote from: PatC – February 06, 2014, 10:39:23 pm

But the GFI, probably original from 1994, does not even catch to reset. You push it in and it does not catch at all. It is like there is nothing to hold it in.

GFI must have power to it in order for it to reset. Otherwise reset button will knot hold in just as you describe. Jerry W.'s advice is what I would do.

Re: Ground fault outlet went.

Reply #9 – February 07, 2014, 01:37:12 am

I've been through this with my coach. I would replace the outlet taking extra care to pack the wires back into the box carefully. As you will see they are packed right in there. Look for a cracked wire not or some thing amiss with the wad of wires in there. That was the culprit in my situation. A cracked wire nut caused a short..
Good luck!

Re: Ground fault outlet went.

Reply #10 – February 07, 2014, 09:18:01 am

Ok, everything reset and stayed power stayed on. Power to all outlets and everything plugged back in. But when I push test button on GHI, it doesn't trip and I continue to have power??? Am going to replace the GFI outlet because that is not right..

Have electric heat back in coach, so will mess with the outlet this afternoon. Its just plain to cold at 3F!

Re: Ground fault outlet went.

Reply #11 – February 07, 2014, 11:00:03 am

Glad you got the power back. When you buy the new GFI, be sure and get one rated for 20 amps and not the cheaper 15 amp.

Re: Ground fault outlet went.

Reply #12 – February 07, 2014, 02:02:23 pm

Pat,
I assume you are turning off all appliances and other power users in all circuits before you plug in and out of shore power or turn the genset on/off. You may also want to inspect the transfer switch contacts. These contacts can get pitted and make a poor connection if the shore power or genset is used with large power consumption appliances are turned on when plugging in or out.

Re: Ground fault outlet went.

Reply #13 – February 09, 2014, 11:07:35 pm

Humidity?? High humidity, such as can be found in bathrooms, will trip GFIs. Doesn't account for some of the other situations, but good to remember when dealing with a GFI. Have a great day ---- Fritz

Re: Ground fault outlet went.

Reply #14 – February 10, 2014, 11:01:27 am

Have every thing working again and have not replaced the GFI outlet yet. New one is in bathroom cupboard. All works, and all is good. I'm thinking a weak ground fault switch. Could have had some snow on the 50 amp plug when I connected it. Have a new 20 amp one that I will take along with us, and replace some where along the way like Galveston or Marfa where it is warm. Body is currently having a hard time getting warmed up, had been to cold to long. Way to many nights with temps below 0. Can't wait to head south!

Re: Ground fault outlet went.

Reply #15 – February 10, 2014, 11:04:02 am

This is beginning to sound like the transfer switch. If it happens again, look for this to be the problem.

Re: Ground fault outlet went.

Reply #16 – February 10, 2014, 11:12:29 am

You didn't have a problem until you moved the power cord, unplugged and plugged back in.
I would look closely at that plug.

Re: Ground fault outlet went.

Reply #17 – February 10, 2014, 11:40:53 am

Quote from: John Duld – February 10, 2014, 11:12:29 am

You didn't have a problem until you moved the power cord, unplugged and plugged back in.
I would look closely at that plug.

That's a good catch John. If there is a pigtail in use check that as well.

Re: Ground fault outlet went.

Reply #18 – February 10, 2014, 02:02:08 pm

Pat, be sure when you install the new GFI receptacle that you are careful to feed the incoming hot line and neutral into the "LINE" terminals on either side of the plug, and the feeds for downstream plugs to the "LOAD" terminals on either side. Lots of them get hooked up wrong.

The original GFI is almost certainly weak. These have been greatly improved in later years, less nuisance tripping.

Re: Ground fault outlet went.

Reply #19 – August 10, 2018, 03:31:06 pm

I was going to title this "The Gremlins Have Struck" or "A Really Really Bad Day" or yet again "What Is &_$#+-$@ Going On? But those titles would be unsearchable ergo "Ground Fault Outlet Went". And that title describes one of the simultaneous problems I had. So here is my story.

I had a little accident and spilled two or so cups of water on the cooktop. A couple hours later the air conditioners stopped working, the ground fault tripped and the cooktop ignite was sparking on one burner. I attributed everything too the water spill. BIG MISTAKE A REALLY BIG MISTAKE. NEVER NEVER ASSUME.

I began by replacing the ground fault. No apparent change. I switched from shore power to generator power. The air conditioners worked. Ground fault still tripped. Went back to shore power and nada. As I kept taking voltage measurements and unplugging everything on the ground fault circuit suddenly the air conditioners started working. Had no clue why. I was planning a trip to Ajo the following day so I patched stuff to work. I jumped the ground fault, unplugged the cooktop and went to Ajo.

On my return from Ajo I calmly approached each problem separately. I knew I had not "fixed" the air conditioners so they were on my "fix list".

Here is what I found. The water on the cooktop moved some debris into the igniter switch. Once the water evaporated the debris was obstructing the switch so that it was always on. I cleaned the area around both switches with q tips and now everything works as it should.

The ground fault was the next thing I attacked. The old ground fault was bad. It just happened to fail when everything else happened. When I tried the new ground fault I did not push the reset button in far enough for it to reset itself. I was "checking it out" with the switch out of the junction box too see if it would work before I stuffed everything back in. Today I pushed the reset button until it clicked in place and stayed there. Number two taken care of.

The air conditioners were working so why try to "fix" them? Because it was driving me crazy. Where to begin? Well they worked on generator power but not on shore power when I had the problem so I figured the transfer switch was a good place to start. I took the cover off and the first photo I attached is what I saw. Hmmmm looks like someone or something is fixing to take up a residence here. As I am looking around I noticed something a bit off, that's the second picture....see if you can spot it. The third photo explains the problem with the air conditioners.

Apparently that little sucker electrocuted himself, and while there was still moisture there the draw was too much and tripped the circuit. As he dryed up the circuit no longer tripped. By the look of his tail he must have felt a bit of a "tingle".

Roland

Re: Ground fault outlet went.

Reply #20 – August 10, 2018, 03:45:38 pm

This was supposed to be the third photo that shows where the little bugger met his fate.

Roland

Re: Ground fault outlet went.

Reply #21 – August 10, 2018, 03:54:10 pm

Ha, one less pesky rodent. I'll be all that had you scratching your head.

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