Rarely ask a question here, but now two in two days. Just tried to plug in in a good working tool and the GFCI outlet went "pop"" - no power. Will not re-set. Circuit breaker blown as well - will not reset All of this stuff is new. The tool works - does not blow other outlets.

Do these home type 15A or 20A GFCI units tend to suddenly fail on their own - just blow/quit. Any way to test it as wired - especially since the breaker will not re-set - or how to test if I remove it?

Or, does it sound like simply replace?

Thanks for any help.

If your breaker won't reset I'd say your GFCI is fugged (if it popped when you plugged your tool in I'd certainly think its the GFCI or loose wiring at the GFCI). Take it out, disconnect the wires from it and try your breaker. If it resets you'll know the GFCI is causing the problem.

ETA: I should have said this when I first replied but I figured it shouldn't need to be said however there are a lot of people who know absolutely nothing about house wiring. When you disconnect the GFCI either tape the wires or put a wire nut on them, make sure they aren't touching anything or each other before you reset your breaker..

I think the quality control on GFCI’s sucks. In the last year, I’ve had 2 that didn’t work out of the box and another that died within 2 months of install.

Yes, if it won't reset, not much to do but to
buy another.

They do indeed go bad and there is nothing to fix, just replace.

Just because a tool works in a standard outlet does not mean it will necesarily work in a GFCI. Are we talking about GFCI receptacle connected to a 15 amp circuit breaker? Some times when you plug things in things go wrong. Remove the device and see if something is wrong try to reset the breaker.

Safe bet is to just replace the GFCI.

This is the best advice if you can do it. Most likely the GFCI but that confirms. In some cases all the GFCI are wired on the same breaker and an outdoor GFCI that gets wet can hold out all of them. Coincidental but might be worth the check.

Yes they can quit in their own requiring replacement.

FYI a GFCI breaker can also be used instead of a receptacle.

Also, they do make a gfci tester that plugs into the receptacle.

Is this in a damp location? They make a GFI outlet now that's weather tight. I had one that was giving me problems with a stock tank heater. I put in a weather tight one and now it's working fine.

Engineered obsolescence

I’m assuming you know the obvious but...you have to flip the blown circuit breaker to the off position before you can flip it back on if it has been tripped. Are you saying that you do that and the circuit breaker instantly trips again?

CCCC,

had our shop wired this past summer. Within a month or so was hanging overhead LED light fixtures. Upon turning them on/plugging them in the GFCI would pop. Tried the lights on another circuit, no issues there. Called out the electrician that wired the place, sure as scheidt, the brand new outlet on that circuit was bad. He said it happens. Would not surprise me if it is your issue.

Good luck with it.

I put them in when remodeling the house we live in now, last year. All work, but they are always tripping, for very little or no reason. I suspect quality is the issue, as with many other things I buy regularly. Seriously considering putting in regular outlets and forgetting about it. Whole damn country never had these until a couple decades ago at most, we got along ok. Don't use the hair dryer in the tub, or your circular saw in the rain, and you will live to a ripe old age. Maybe. Either way, it probably won’t be electric outlets that get you. The only time you really need them is when selling the house.

Thanks everyone - and good questions/comments. Dry location, the tool does not blow other breakers/GFCIs on other circuits, no other GFCI on this circuit, did the usual reset sequence and it will not. Already removed and put nuts on the ends of open wires. All good.

Good to know that even a new GFCI will blow due to its own poor design/construction (actually bad news with regard to quality control). Asked about it here because this event surprised me. Next GFCI that quits on its own will now not be a surprise.

Thanks all. Next trip to town/hardware store should solve this.

Any chance these things are made in China? Is there a "made in USA" alternative?

I would replace the GFCI, but before I threw the old one in the trash I would wire a plug to it and plug it in and do the test over. If it tests out okay save it for another project down the road maybe, but if it pops you know you have a bad GFCI.

This will also help give you confidence when you replace the original with new.

Yes... Chinese GFCI...just replace it..

Master Electrician...42 years

Ace hardware says "not Chinee" - but I'm going to look into that.

How much surge from the tool? That’s a problem with freezer starts plugged into a GFI.

Hardly any - hand held sander.

MIC

Electric motors, ballast in fluorescent lights, starters in LED lights and things of that sort aren't known to play well with GFCI protection. Just the nature of the beast

I did a kitchen remodel and finished out a room in my shop a couple years ago. One gfci was DOA. I replaced another 2 within a year. I suspect QC is not strong

Casually mentioned earlier but if at all possible, do NOT plug refrigerators or freezers into a GFI circuit. The plugs fail and you can lose a lot of food (money) and have quite a mess on your hands.

Do you have a clamp meter (if you don't, get one).... Put your clamp meter around the cord for the tool. Slowly, engage the tool, watch the amps... if the GFCI fails before the requisite 15 (or 20) amps, it's the GFCI. If the GFCI fails while the meter says 23 amps, well then it's the tool, not the GFCI. Also, experiment with the tool with varying degrees of firing it up... read the meter... will give you an idea if it's the actual outlet, or the circuit.

My clamp meter will only measure amperage when clamped around the hot wire, not saying yours won't work around all 3 wires but if it does I'll buy one!

Sorry, you're right... meant the hot wire for the tool, not the cord... normally, when I'm troubleshooting a circuit, the whole [bleep] is open.

Make sure you get a GFCI and not an AFCI.

Arch Fault Interruptors do not like power tools.

Do you have ants?

Right...what's that got to do with anything

I had the same thing happen a while back.

Did a deep dive failure analysis because I like to know. Tore it down carefully piece by piece.

Ants had gotten inside and created a conductor with their bodies....

Several of them were still frozen in time.

Others were just remnants.

If you don't have a clamp meter, try it with other tools to see if it blows.

Just a few days ago I had an outside GFI go bad. It was powering a stock tank heater through a short extension cord. After some experimenting, I found that the female end in the extension cord had shorted and fried the GFI. What gave me a hint was a crackling noise inside the cord. Generally that's not something you like to hear.

Pretty obvious the OPs GFCI gave up the ghost and died when it tripped, it happens, things wear out.

But why'd it trip to start with?

A properly functioning tool, a good GFCI and a good extension cord can be a bad mix.

Understanding how a GFCI works can help.

If an electric motor is working properly, all electricity that the motor uses will flow from hot to neutral. A GFCI monitors the amount of current flowing from hot to neutral. If there is any imbalance, it trips the circuit. The GFCI senses a mismatch as small as 4 or 5 milliamps, and it can react as quickly as one-thirtieth of a second.

A good but long extension cord can create a delay in the neutrals return time and cause a good GFCI to trip, it's just doing it's job.

It doesn't necessarily have to be a long extension cord, a long run in a homes wiring distribution can cause the same effect making one circuit in the home different from the others.

I recently had to remedy this problem at a friends home.
He has a small bar/kitchen with a frig on his dock. The entire circuit was GFCI protected as it should be on a dock.
The run to the dock was long, a 100 feet or so, he'd ran 10 gauge wire knowing there would be voltage drop in that long of a run.

The frig occasionally would fail when his GFCI would trip so he had recently replaced the small frig with a larger one, he often froze fish in it.

The problem got worse, it was intermittent, he didn't understand it.
His new frig smelled like rotten fish when I got there.

I took the frig off the GFCI and it was a fix.

But why was it intermittent, some times it worked and other times not?

Ambient temprature can play a roll, if it's hot weather a motor can pull more amps on a circuit when it is running, if it's really cold it can pull extra amps on startup. Ever notice fluorescent lights flickering when turned on when it's cold, it takes longer to ignite the gas in the tubes.

All these things and more will raise havoc with GFCI's.

Nothing necessarily has to be wrong with anything, it's just the nature of the beast...life isn't always fair.

Accurate

Electric motors have their peak current draw at startup. This is generally well known.

In it's simplist terms, a motor behaves like a short for that split second before the commutator gets spinning to produce the back EMF and show a load.

Why is that outlet GFCI protected in the first place?

If it is not required by code, schit can it and replace it with a regular outlet.

Good info here . Thanks

They are required by code in damp and wet locations.
A GFCI reacts at 4 to 5 milliamps because at around 10 milliamps, human muscles "freeze" from electrical overload, meaning that you're unable to let go of an object that's causing a shock; just two seconds at that level of current can cause death

Well - thanks to all of you - for certain I have learned a lot of interesting detail about these GFCI units. This one gave out internally and bad short to the ground lead. This represents one of those seemingly global "safety requirements" that can be a pain when a "must install"a component is so prone to poor manufacture and easy failure.

$17 bucks plus tax this AM. Hope the new/different model (Leviton) performs better.

Thanks again.

No joke being shocked. I had an aluminium Skilsaw stuck on my hand. A coworker pulled the plug .

used to be an inspector. Learned all kinds of things.

Some years back, maybe 5 or so. Electricians were telling me that in a box of 10 that at least 1 would be bad from the start....

But trouble shoot it as noted. Pull the receptacle. See if breaker resets.. Go back down the line as needed..

Had one outlet that stumped me for many years. As a 'no-where near electrician' I resigned myself to the fact that it just didn't work and never would[after replacing it to no avail].
It's in our kitchen and with a stone backsplash there was really no way to pull the wire[cut drywall to see if anything there].
But I finally 'figured' it out after 15 or so years.
There is a GFCI outlet around the corner from it that was tripped but still works, it's above the counter but under dark cabinets and I never noticed or gave any thoughts to it as it always worked.
The electrician put the re-settable outlet second in line by mistake I guess?

Maybe..

All receptacles within 6 ft of the edge of a sink are required GFCI protection. That doesn't mean a electrical circuit can't service additional receptacles before it comes within the "GFCI zone" near the sink.

That may or may not be the case in your situation.

You can buy GFCI recpticals that are 15 or 20 amp.
The 20 amp models hold up better and cost more, but they are cheaper than buying a replacement 15 amp if in a area prone to failure.

Kitchens can be like garages, high amp devices are often in use. With kitchens the coffee pot or toaster oven or the like can keep a 15 amp receptacle operating at the maximum of its load range which means it's likely hot during use. A 20 amp receptacle is made heavier and give you some extra edge and will possibly last a bit longer.

Grow a set. 120 volts is a tickle

timely. i just had a brand new leviton gfci do a similiar thing new out of the box. it would trip with no load. did not kick the panel breaker though. i checked and doublechecked my wiring and was scratching my head. replaced it with another one and no more tripping.

In the current code, the refrigerator must be on its own circuit. A Home Run with only one receptacle. It must be, of course, a 15 amp circuit. I made mine on a 20 amp circuit. And no GFI.