Hello,

I'm having a problem with a GFCI outlet faulting for no "good" reason.
The run extends from the garage down beside the drive way, buried about
8" depth to a light fixture on a brick column near the street. The
wire was 10 wire approved for direct burial. On the column are two
boxes, one for an electronic eye ( dusk to dawn switch ) and the other
is an outlet with a protective cover. I checked both boxes to make
sure they are waterproof and not leaking. If I unwire the run that
goes to this light, then I never get a GFCI fault. This same
configuration is also in use on the other side of the drive, and has
zero problems with faulting.

The only "thing" that I can think of is that somehow this wire that was
approved for direct burial is somehow causing the problem. Perhaps
there is a nick in the wire insulation that is causing the fault.
It's most strange because sometime I'm troubleshoot the problem and be
fault free for several hours. Then, other times, it will fault within
10 minutes. Both on the same sunny afternooon.

Any ideas??

Thanks,

I think you hit the nail on the head. A rock can cut into UF cable and cause
intermittent problems depending upon the moisture in the ground



wrote in message
ups.com...
Hello,

I'm having a problem with a GFCI outlet faulting for no "good" reason.
The run extends from the garage down beside the drive way, buried about
8" depth to a light fixture on a brick column near the street. The
wire was 10 wire approved for direct burial. On the column are two
boxes, one for an electronic eye ( dusk to dawn switch ) and the other
is an outlet with a protective cover. I checked both boxes to make
sure they are waterproof and not leaking. If I unwire the run that
goes to this light, then I never get a GFCI fault. This same
configuration is also in use on the other side of the drive, and has
zero problems with faulting.

The only "thing" that I can think of is that somehow this wire that was
approved for direct burial is somehow causing the problem. Perhaps
there is a nick in the wire insulation that is causing the fault.
It's most strange because sometime I'm troubleshoot the problem and be
fault free for several hours. Then, other times, it will fault within
10 minutes. Both on the same sunny afternooon.

Any ideas??

Thanks,

GFCIs trip at 5 milliamps. It doesn't take much moisture or crud to cause
that much of a fault current (from hot to ground). The GFCI might be bad
.... I have see that more than once.

Thanks to all for the FAST response.

I know it's not the GFCI, I tried replacing that as well, just to rule
it out.

Looks like I'm down to doing a physical inspection of the wire. I was
hoping against hope that it wouldn't come to that. I thought maybe
there was some way to use a multimeter to measure the resistance to see
if this really was the case.

I think the next move will be to strech some wire I have in the garage
and see if I can go a whole sunny day with a fresh run of wire without
faulting. If so, I think I'll have to rent the trencher again and run
fresh wire packed in sand to help keep the rocks away.

Does anyone know why direct burial wire can't be run in plastic
conduit? I would run it this way and bury everything to keep this from
happening again.

Thanks a million!


RBM (remove this) wrote:
I think you hit the nail on the head. A rock can cut into UF cable and cause
intermittent problems depending upon the moisture in the ground



wrote in message
ups.com...
Hello,

I'm having a problem with a GFCI outlet faulting for no "good" reason.
The run extends from the garage down beside the drive way, buried about
8" depth to a light fixture on a brick column near the street. The
wire was 10 wire approved for direct burial. On the column are two
boxes, one for an electronic eye ( dusk to dawn switch ) and the other
is an outlet with a protective cover. I checked both boxes to make
sure they are waterproof and not leaking. If I unwire the run that
goes to this light, then I never get a GFCI fault. This same
configuration is also in use on the other side of the drive, and has
zero problems with faulting.

The only "thing" that I can think of is that somehow this wire that was
approved for direct burial is somehow causing the problem. Perhaps
there is a nick in the wire insulation that is causing the fault.
It's most strange because sometime I'm troubleshoot the problem and be
fault free for several hours. Then, other times, it will fault within
10 minutes. Both on the same sunny afternooon.

Any ideas??

Thanks,

I routinely run it in PVC, and for that reason exactly


wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks to all for the FAST response.

I know it's not the GFCI, I tried replacing that as well, just to rule
it out.

Looks like I'm down to doing a physical inspection of the wire. I was
hoping against hope that it wouldn't come to that. I thought maybe
there was some way to use a multimeter to measure the resistance to see
if this really was the case.

I think the next move will be to strech some wire I have in the garage
and see if I can go a whole sunny day with a fresh run of wire without
faulting. If so, I think I'll have to rent the trencher again and run
fresh wire packed in sand to help keep the rocks away.

Does anyone know why direct burial wire can't be run in plastic
conduit? I would run it this way and bury everything to keep this from
happening again.

Thanks a million!


RBM (remove this) wrote:
I think you hit the nail on the head. A rock can cut into UF cable and
cause
intermittent problems depending upon the moisture in the ground



wrote in message
ups.com...
Hello,

I'm having a problem with a GFCI outlet faulting for no "good" reason.
The run extends from the garage down beside the drive way, buried about
8" depth to a light fixture on a brick column near the street. The
wire was 10 wire approved for direct burial. On the column are two
boxes, one for an electronic eye ( dusk to dawn switch ) and the other
is an outlet with a protective cover. I checked both boxes to make
sure they are waterproof and not leaking. If I unwire the run that
goes to this light, then I never get a GFCI fault. This same
configuration is also in use on the other side of the drive, and has
zero problems with faulting.

The only "thing" that I can think of is that somehow this wire that was
approved for direct burial is somehow causing the problem. Perhaps
there is a nick in the wire insulation that is causing the fault.
It's most strange because sometime I'm troubleshoot the problem and be
fault free for several hours. Then, other times, it will fault within
10 minutes. Both on the same sunny afternooon.

Any ideas??

Thanks,

Charlie Morgan wrote:

On Sun, 3 Dec 2006 18:15:06 -0500, "RBM" rbm2(remove
wrote:


I routinely run it in PVC, and for that reason exactly



Double and triple check any advice given by RBM. He's a bit of a nut case. He
might post something correct, but he isn't someone trustworthy. That's for
certain.


RBM probably posts more on electrical subjects than anyone else, and his
posts are consistently very good.

--
bud--

wrote:
Thanks to all for the FAST response.

I know it's not the GFCI, I tried replacing that as well, just to rule
it out.

Looks like I'm down to doing a physical inspection of the wire. I was
hoping against hope that it wouldn't come to that. I thought maybe
there was some way to use a multimeter to measure the resistance to see
if this really was the case.

I think the next move will be to strech some wire I have in the garage
and see if I can go a whole sunny day with a fresh run of wire without
faulting. If so, I think I'll have to rent the trencher again and run
fresh wire packed in sand to help keep the rocks away.

Does anyone know why direct burial wire can't be run in plastic
conduit? I would run it this way and bury everything to keep this from
happening again.

Thanks a million!


RBM (remove this) wrote:
I think you hit the nail on the head. A rock can cut into UF cable and cause
intermittent problems depending upon the moisture in the ground



wrote in message
ups.com...
Hello,

I'm having a problem with a GFCI outlet faulting for no "good" reason.
The run extends from the garage down beside the drive way, buried about
8" depth to a light fixture on a brick column near the street. The
wire was 10 wire approved for direct burial. On the column are two
boxes, one for an electronic eye ( dusk to dawn switch ) and the other
is an outlet with a protective cover. I checked both boxes to make
sure they are waterproof and not leaking. If I unwire the run that
goes to this light, then I never get a GFCI fault. This same
configuration is also in use on the other side of the drive, and has
zero problems with faulting.

The only "thing" that I can think of is that somehow this wire that was
approved for direct burial is somehow causing the problem. Perhaps
there is a nick in the wire insulation that is causing the fault.
It's most strange because sometime I'm troubleshoot the problem and be
fault free for several hours. Then, other times, it will fault within
10 minutes. Both on the same sunny afternooon.

Any ideas??

Thanks,



Since you have to dig it up anyway dig the trench the required full foot
this time and if you want to avoid the nick problem install rigid PVC
conduit.
--
Tom Horne

"This alternating current stuff is just a fad. It is much too dangerous
for general use." Thomas Alva Edison