GFCI Panel Help

[FuzzeWuzze]

Only once I plug something in and turn it on.

What somethings have you tried? Are you sure they are wired correctly?

 

[BrunDog]

Wait, I don't understand the swap direction and which breaker is being tested where.

-BD

 

[iijakii]

What somethings have you tried? Are you sure they are wired correctly?

Dryer.

Wait, I don't understand the swap direction and which breaker is being tested where.

-BD

30A breaker -> 30A GFCI breaker in house's breaker panel.

 

[itsnotrequired]

i'm wondering if there is a problem with the receptacle wiring or the receptacle is bad. can you swap out the dryer receptacle with a standard duplex receptacle? plug in a lamp or something and see if it is still tripping with a different receptacle.

 

[iijakii]

Ill pull the receptacle tomorrow and take a look at it. I was thinking it was a wiring issue since the test button on the breaker wouldn't even work.

 

[BrunDog]

I still don't get it. I thought you had a separate panel you were trying to get going.

-BD

 

[itsnotrequired]

as i understand it, he has scrapped the spa panel idea and is now serving the receptacle directly from a 30 amp gfci breaker in his main panel. correct?

is this breaker in your main panel or in a sub-panel? the fact that the test button doesn't work even with no load on it is...strange.

 

[iijakii]

as i understand it, he has scrapped the spa panel idea and is now serving the receptacle directly from a 30 amp gfci breaker in his main panel. correct?

is this breaker in your main panel or in a sub-panel? the fact that the test button doesn't work even with no load on it is...strange.

Correct. Spa panel was returned. This is a GFCI breaker replacing a standard breaker in my home's main panel.

 

[itsnotrequired]

does the test button work with no load connected? or does it not work at all? note that the trip button won't do anything unless the breaker is reset. turn the breaker all the way off and back on to reset, then try the test button.

 

[neild5]

Is the neutral a home run from the outlet to the panel? Or is there another circuit's neutral tied to it?

 

[BrunDog]

Sounds like the wiring to the end (receptacle) is funked up. I would disconnect the ends at the breaker and test them with a continuity meter across all the different lines, both for shorted and open circuits.

-BD

 

[iijakii]

Ok, with nothing plugged into the outlet the GFCI breaker's trip test works fine. As soon as I plug the dryer into the outlet (no power draw yet) it trips. Both the outlet and dryer look OK wiring wise. What should I be looking for with my multimeter?

 

[neild5]

Is the dryer a 3 or 4 prong? If it's 4 test for continuity between the neutral and ground.

 

[BrunDog]

With nothing plugged in and everything disconnected on the panel end (pull the breaker to open everything up and remove the neutral wire. Now check continuity across all lines (L1 & L2, L1 and ground, L1 and neutral, etc.). There should be no continuity anywhere.

Then I would create a jumper at the receptacle (do with a plug or with the plug components) and iteratively jump two lines at a time. With each change, make sure there is continuity between those two lines only and no others. Make sure to check all configurations.

-BD

 

[lschiavo]

The dryer could definitely be the problem. Three wire for sure as the neutral at the dryer is tired to the frame. As mentioned, check that the neutral and ground in the dryer are not common.

 

[iijakii]

****in hell. Just finished wiring up my power-cord and it works. It's the dryer afterall. Happy brewstuff seems to be fine, but annoyed at all the trouble this has caused!

Time to dig into the dryer. Not really sure what Im looking for. It's a 4-wire feed and each is going to its own post, not a neutral/ground sharing going on.

 

[iijakii]

Sure enough though I have continuity between ground and neutral.

 

[iijakii]

Aaaaan found a butt splice inside the back with a ground to neutral. Everything is fixed. Thanks again for all of the help everyone!

 

[lschiavo]

Good for you. I'm glad this problem is solved. It's been keeping me up nights

Do you have a build thread?

 

[iijakii]

Good for you. I'm glad this problem is solved. It's been keeping me up nights

Do you have a build thread?

Yeah - https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=546149

 

[BrunDog]

The splice is in the dryer or the box? If dryer, it's there for a reason...might wanna figure out why, though dryer breakers are not usually GFI, so... yeah.

 

[lschiavo]

I

Dryers are a mystery of the electrical code. They exist in nearly every residence so they must be addressed. Code changed. Dryers didn't fit. We only install to code but things like this leave it open to interpretation

 

[BrunDog]

Yup. That'll do it.

-BD