GFCIs will trip when a ground fault happens, therefore the GFCI is supposed to trip when you plug an appliance into the GFCI outlet. However, sometimes your GFCI trips even though it doesn’t have anything plugged into it. We can initially judge the GFCIs are bad. Let’s discuss why this will happen and the simple solutions.
What Causes A Breaker To Trip When Nothing Is Plugged In?
We are usually wondering if the GFCI is defective or damaged when this situation occurs. This happens in our daily life. Though, if you don’t believe that the GFCI has gone bad, It is also due to the damaged input wire. A damaged input wire can cause a leakage in the current.
A damaged input wire is not only a nuisance but dangerous factor. Your GFCI keeps tripping to protect you all the time. Don’t reset it until a electrician resolve the problem.
Before you call a electrician, you should check to ensure there is nothing plugged into the GFCI. Some homeowners install GFCIs to every single outlet while others only use a single GFCI to protect multiple outlets downstream.
Even though the outlet with the GFCI has nothing plugged into it, if an outlet downstream is connected to a defective appliance, this could cause the GFCI to trip as well. The best way to conclude if you have any devices plugged into the GFCI or not is to check all the outlets downstream.
What To Do If GFCIs Keep Tripping?
The solutions will be different and as per definite cause of the tripping, for example:
1). Unplug Appliances
If you plug an appliance into one of the outlets downstream, remember to unplug it. If the tripping stops, you can clearly aware that that the appliance shall be the problem. Replace the GFCI if you find to plug other appliances into the outlet causes the GFCI to trip. Unplug it should resolve the situation if the appliance is faulty.
2). Call An Electrician
You’d better call a qualified electrician if you are not sure what happened. They will help to identify and then fix the source of the leakage.
3). Remove Defective GFCI and Replace a new one.
The only solution is to replace it if the GFCI has been approved broken or bad. If you have the budget, to install a GFCI at each outlet shall be the first choice. That means, it won’t affect the other GFCI outlets in case a fault happens to an appliance which is plugged into one outlet.
Why GFCI Outlets Trip with Something Plugged In?
If your GFCI Outlets continue to trip regardless of what you plug into it, you might need to consider the possible causes as follow:
1). Moisture
According to our previous experiences, it can cause continuous tripping will happen if you have moisture in the GFCI outlet, obviously outdoor outlets that have been exposed to rain usually trip.
Somethings indoor outlets also have the same problem when they are in regions with a lot of humidity. In other words, moisture will accumulate in the receptacle box. The GFCI will keep tripping until the water is removed.
2). Loose Wiring
A loose wiring in the GFCI outlet can also cause tripping. We usually say “tripping is a good thing sometimes because it is actually protecting people”. However, the best way shall be hiring a professional electrician to check the GFCI for other sources of current leakage.
3). Overloading
If the appliances you are plugging into the GFCI are power-Hungary devices, they may overload the GFCI by causing more current to flow through the outlet than it was designed to withstand. Sometimes an overload happens is not because the appliances are too powerful, but because of a loose or corroded connection. The GFCI will trip once overload happens.
4). Defective GFCI
If every known possible cause has been excluded, you should consider the possibility that the GFCI itself is defective thus not working.
Post time: May-23-2023