A 1650 Watt element will go on momentarily but then causes the 20 Amp
GFI to break.

I tried it on 2 different GFI breakers.

When plugged into a non-GFI circuit, it works fine.


There are a few possibilities that my meager mind considered:

1 There is some current in the neutral leg. Multimeter does not
show anything.

2 Buy a higher Amp GFI.

3 The GFI is more sensitive to a load near its 20 Amp rating.
1650Watts/(20 x 115)

4 And the no-no answer, replace the GFI with a non-GFI breaker.

Any suggestions?

As the coils heat up they may leak enough current to ground to trip the GFI
breaker. Using regular breaker let unit heat up, quickly pull the plug and
measure resistance between hot lead and ground lead.


"BoyntonStu" wrote in message
ps.com...
A 1650 Watt element will go on momentarily but then causes the 20 Amp
GFI to break.

I tried it on 2 different GFI breakers.

When plugged into a non-GFI circuit, it works fine.


There are a few possibilities that my meager mind considered:

1 There is some current in the neutral leg. Multimeter does not
show anything.

2 Buy a higher Amp GFI.

3 The GFI is more sensitive to a load near its 20 Amp rating.
1650Watts/(20 x 115)

4 And the no-no answer, replace the GFI with a non-GFI breaker.

Any suggestions?

On May 25, 1:01 pm, BoyntonStu wrote:
A 1650 Watt element will go on momentarily but then causes the 20 Amp
GFI to break.

I tried it on 2 different GFI breakers.

When plugged into a non-GFI circuit, it works fine.

There are a few possibilities that my meager mind considered:

1 There is some current in the neutral leg. Multimeter does not
show anything.

There better be current in the neutral and it better be equal to the
current in the hot, or the GFCI will trip.



2 Buy a higher Amp GFI.

Unless there are other loads on the GFCI, it's not tripping because of
over current. The heater is well below the limit.




3 The GFI is more sensitive to a load near its 20 Amp rating.
1650Watts/(20 x 115)

4 And the no-no answer, replace the GFI with a non-GFI breaker.

Any suggestions?


Look for a partial short to ground somewhere.

In article om, BoyntonStu wrote:
A 1650 Watt element will go on momentarily but then causes the 20 Amp
GFI to break.

I tried it on 2 different GFI breakers.

When plugged into a non-GFI circuit, it works fine.

The obvious conclusion is that there is a ground fault somewhere in the
machine.


There are a few possibilities that my meager mind considered:

1 There is some current in the neutral leg. Multimeter does not
show anything.

Then you're not measuring correctly. There had better be exactly the same
current in the neutral leg as there is in the hot leg.

2 Buy a higher Amp GFI.

That will make no difference. GFIs trip at fault currents of about 5mA.

3 The GFI is more sensitive to a load near its 20 Amp rating.
1650Watts/(20 x 115)

Doubtful, but in any event you're not anywhere near 20A with a 1650W device on
a 120V circuit. 1650W / 120V = 13.75A.

4 And the no-no answer, replace the GFI with a non-GFI breaker.

You're right, that's wrong. :-)

Any suggestions?

Find the ground fault and fix it -- or, if the unit is still under warranty,
return it to the retailer for exchange or refund.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

On 2007-05-25, Doug Miller wrote:
When plugged into a non-GFI circuit, it works fine.

The obvious conclusion is that there is a ground fault somewhere in the
machine.


There are a few possibilities that my meager mind considered:

1 There is some current in the neutral leg. Multimeter does not
show anything.

Then you're not measuring correctly. There had better be exactly the same
current in the neutral leg as there is in the hot leg.

But if there was exactly the same current in the neutral as hot, then
the GFCI wouldn't be tripping...so maybe he IS measuring correctly! :-)

In article , Tim Smith wrote:
On 2007-05-25, Doug Miller wrote:
When plugged into a non-GFI circuit, it works fine.

The obvious conclusion is that there is a ground fault somewhere in the
machine.


There are a few possibilities that my meager mind considered:

1 There is some current in the neutral leg. Multimeter does not
show anything.

Then you're not measuring correctly. There had better be exactly the same
current in the neutral leg as there is in the hot leg.

But if there was exactly the same current in the neutral as hot, then
the GFCI wouldn't be tripping...so maybe he IS measuring correctly! :-)

:-)

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

"Tim Smith" wrote in message
...
On 2007-05-25, Doug Miller wrote:
When plugged into a non-GFI circuit, it works fine.

The obvious conclusion is that there is a ground fault somewhere in the
machine.


There are a few possibilities that my meager mind considered:

1 There is some current in the neutral leg. Multimeter does not
show anything.

Then you're not measuring correctly. There had better be exactly the same
current in the neutral leg as there is in the hot leg.

But if there was exactly the same current in the neutral as hot, then
the GFCI wouldn't be tripping...so maybe he IS measuring correctly! :-)

It is doubtful that he has a meter that will detect 5 to 10 ma differance in
a 14 amp circuit.
That is all it takes to trip a GFCI.

Jeff wrote:

As the coils heat up they may leak enough current to ground to trip the GFI
breaker. Using regular breaker let unit heat up, quickly pull the plug and
measure resistance between hot lead and ground lead.

Agreed, and so you know what to look for, anything less than 50,000 ohms
is likely to cause that GFCI to trip.

Jeff
--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10^12 furlongs per fortnight.




"BoyntonStu" wrote in message
ps.com...

A 1650 Watt element will go on momentarily but then causes the 20 Amp
GFI to break.

I tried it on 2 different GFI breakers.

When plugged into a non-GFI circuit, it works fine.


There are a few possibilities that my meager mind considered:

1 There is some current in the neutral leg. Multimeter does not
show anything.

2 Buy a higher Amp GFI.

3 The GFI is more sensitive to a load near its 20 Amp rating.
1650Watts/(20 x 115)

4 And the no-no answer, replace the GFI with a non-GFI breaker.

Any suggestions?

In article , Jeff Wisnia wrote:

Agreed, and so you know what to look for, anything less than 50,000 ohms
is likely to cause that GFCI to trip.

Hmmmm....

120V / 50Kohm = 2.4mA, which I think is a bit below the trip threshold. I
believe I'd be looking for faults on the order of 120V / 5mA = 24,000 ohms or
less.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

On 25 May 2007 11:01:20 -0700, BoyntonStu wrote:

A 1650 Watt element will go on momentarily but then causes the 20 Amp
GFI to break.

I tried it on 2 different GFI breakers.

When plugged into a non-GFI circuit, it works fine.


There are a few possibilities that my meager mind considered:

1 There is some current in the neutral leg. Multimeter does not
show anything.

I'm curious how you are trying to measure current in the neutral wire
with a multimeter????

2 Buy a higher Amp GFI.

3 The GFI is more sensitive to a load near its 20 Amp rating.
1650Watts/(20 x 115)

4 And the no-no answer, replace the GFI with a non-GFI breaker.

Any suggestions?

Doug Miller wrote:
In article , Jeff Wisnia wrote:


Agreed, and so you know what to look for, anything less than 50,000 ohms
is likely to cause that GFCI to trip.


Hmmmm....

120V / 50Kohm = 2.4mA, which I think is a bit below the trip threshold. I
believe I'd be looking for faults on the order of 120V / 5mA = 24,000 ohms or
less.


Whatever...If it's already as low as 50K then it's probably on its way
to getting even lower the next time the humidity rises. G

Peace,

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.98*10^14 fathoms per fortnight.