GFCI Wierdness
 

Talked with my mother last night, and when I show up for Sunday dinner
I need to make some repairs around the house (normal). But one is
confusing. Apparently, the GFCI outlets in the master bath won't run
a nightlight, but they do run an electric toothbrush and hair dryer.
The nightlight, a simple 7W bulb, works fine in non-GFCI outlets in
the bath as well as GFCI outlets in the other bath and kitchen. The
toothbrush and hair dryer apparently work fine in all the outlets.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Jeff

In article , Jeff Cochran wrote:
Talked with my mother last night, and when I show up for Sunday dinner
I need to make some repairs around the house (normal). But one is
confusing. Apparently, the GFCI outlets in the master bath won't run
a nightlight, but they do run an electric toothbrush and hair dryer.
The nightlight, a simple 7W bulb, works fine in non-GFCI outlets in
the bath as well as GFCI outlets in the other bath and kitchen. The
toothbrush and hair dryer apparently work fine in all the outlets.

Be more specific, please: does the nightlight trip the GFCI, or does it
simply fail to work when plugged into the GFCI?


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

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Talked with my mother last night, and when I show up for Sunday dinner
I need to make some repairs around the house (normal). But one is
confusing. Apparently, the GFCI outlets in the master bath won't run
a nightlight, but they do run an electric toothbrush and hair dryer.
The nightlight, a simple 7W bulb, works fine in non-GFCI outlets in
the bath as well as GFCI outlets in the other bath and kitchen. The
toothbrush and hair dryer apparently work fine in all the outlets.


What do you mean by "won't run the nighlight"? Does it trip the
GFCI, or just refuse to light up? Does it screw in, or just plug in?
Does it work if you turn it upside down? Does it work in the kitchen
GFCI outlets? (assuming there are any).

The two most likely problems are that (A) there's something
wrong with the nightlight, and the outlet is correctly detecting
that, or (B) it's twisting funny in the outlet, and not contacting
right, or is tripping the GFCI that way. If (A) then you (they)
should just replace the light. If (b) then I'd be tempted to
replace both the light AND the outlet, but changing the way
the light hangs, and/or bending the tines would probably also work.

There is no reason that the nightlight should not work. It soulds likly
that the GFCI receptacles in the bathroom are wired wrong. Check for
reversal of the hot and neutral that the line and load sides of the plug
were not swapped.

The hair drier probably had a GFCI device of its own and the toothbrush has
a sophisticated power supply as the front end while the nightlight is a
simple resistive load. Did the hairdrier and toothbrush have grounding
prongs on the cords and the nightlight not. That would indicate the neutral
wire is open to the receptacle.


"Jeff Cochran" wrote in message
...
Talked with my mother last night, and when I show up for Sunday dinner
I need to make some repairs around the house (normal). But one is
confusing. Apparently, the GFCI outlets in the master bath won't run
a nightlight, but they do run an electric toothbrush and hair dryer.
The nightlight, a simple 7W bulb, works fine in non-GFCI outlets in
the bath as well as GFCI outlets in the other bath and kitchen. The
toothbrush and hair dryer apparently work fine in all the outlets.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Jeff

On Wed, 02 Mar 2005 12:34:02 GMT, (Doug Miller)
wrote:

In article , Jeff Cochran wrote:
Talked with my mother last night, and when I show up for Sunday dinner
I need to make some repairs around the house (normal). But one is
confusing. Apparently, the GFCI outlets in the master bath won't run
a nightlight, but they do run an electric toothbrush and hair dryer.
The nightlight, a simple 7W bulb, works fine in non-GFCI outlets in
the bath as well as GFCI outlets in the other bath and kitchen. The
toothbrush and hair dryer apparently work fine in all the outlets.

Be more specific, please: does the nightlight trip the GFCI, or does it
simply fail to work when plugged into the GFCI?

Light fails, nothing trips.

Jeff

On Thu, 03 Mar 2005 00:14:47 GMT, "AutoTracer"
wrote:

There is no reason that the nightlight should not work. It soulds likly
that the GFCI receptacles in the bathroom are wired wrong. Check for
reversal of the hot and neutral that the line and load sides of the plug
were not swapped.

A light shouldn't care in a GFCI if swapped though, correct?

The hair drier probably had a GFCI device of its own and the toothbrush has
a sophisticated power supply as the front end while the nightlight is a
simple resistive load. Did the hairdrier and toothbrush have grounding
prongs on the cords and the nightlight not. That would indicate the neutral
wire is open to the receptacle.

Unfortunately neither.

Jeff


"Jeff Cochran" wrote in message
.. .
Talked with my mother last night, and when I show up for Sunday dinner
I need to make some repairs around the house (normal). But one is
confusing. Apparently, the GFCI outlets in the master bath won't run
a nightlight, but they do run an electric toothbrush and hair dryer.
The nightlight, a simple 7W bulb, works fine in non-GFCI outlets in
the bath as well as GFCI outlets in the other bath and kitchen. The
toothbrush and hair dryer apparently work fine in all the outlets.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Jeff

On Wed, 02 Mar 2005 12:38:30 -0500, Goedjn wrote:


Talked with my mother last night, and when I show up for Sunday dinner
I need to make some repairs around the house (normal). But one is
confusing. Apparently, the GFCI outlets in the master bath won't run
a nightlight, but they do run an electric toothbrush and hair dryer.
The nightlight, a simple 7W bulb, works fine in non-GFCI outlets in
the bath as well as GFCI outlets in the other bath and kitchen. The
toothbrush and hair dryer apparently work fine in all the outlets.


What do you mean by "won't run the nighlight"? Does it trip the
GFCI, or just refuse to light up? Does it screw in, or just plug in?
Does it work if you turn it upside down? Does it work in the kitchen
GFCI outlets? (assuming there are any).

Nothing trips, light doesn't light. Not even upside down, it's a plug
in.

The two most likely problems are that (A) there's something
wrong with the nightlight, and the outlet is correctly detecting
that, or (B) it's twisting funny in the outlet, and not contacting
right, or is tripping the GFCI that way. If (A) then you (they)
should just replace the light. If (b) then I'd be tempted to
replace both the light AND the outlet, but changing the way
the light hangs, and/or bending the tines would probably also work.

She tested two nightlights, in both GFCI outlets in the master bath
they don't light. In both GFCI's in the kitchen, they light fine. In
the other bath GFCI they light fine. Nobe of the GFCI's trip.

I'll be taking a meter over to check as well as a simple light bulb
circuit tester.

Thanks,

Jeff

AutoTracer wrote:
There is no reason that the nightlight should not work. It soulds
likly
that the GFCI receptacles in the bathroom are wired wrong. Check for
reversal of the hot and neutral that the line and load sides of the
plug
were not swapped.

If anything works in that outlet, the nitelite should also work.
Failure of the light to work does not indicate any of the above
scenarios.

The hair drier probably had a GFCI device of its own and the
toothbrush has
a sophisticated power supply as the front end while the nightlight is
a
simple resistive load. Did the hairdrier and toothbrush have
grounding
prongs on the cords and the nightlight not. That would indicate the
neutral
wire is open to the receptacle.

No it would not. Unless the hairdryer and toothbrush have been modified
form their original UL approved configuration, they could not possibly
send current down the protective ground wire instead of the neutral
wire.

The most likely culprit is that the prongs of the nitelite just don't
mate well with the contacts in the receptacle. Either get a new
receptacle, a new nitelite, or put one of those "3-to-2 prong" thingies
between the lite and receptacle to change the way the contacts mate.

%mod%

According to Jeff Cochran :
On Wed, 02 Mar 2005 12:34:02 GMT, (Doug Miller)
wrote:

In article , Jeff Cochran wrote:
Talked with my mother last night, and when I show up for Sunday dinner
I need to make some repairs around the house (normal). But one is
confusing. Apparently, the GFCI outlets in the master bath won't run
a nightlight, but they do run an electric toothbrush and hair dryer.
The nightlight, a simple 7W bulb, works fine in non-GFCI outlets in
the bath as well as GFCI outlets in the other bath and kitchen. The
toothbrush and hair dryer apparently work fine in all the outlets.

Be more specific, please: does the nightlight trip the GFCI, or does it
simply fail to work when plugged into the GFCI?

Light fails, nothing trips.

Sounds like a poor socket.

Try plugging something else into the same outlet, and turn it on.

Does the nitelike work now?

If not, the plug's defective.

If so, you have a real wierd GFCI.
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.