When a GFCI trips, it is usually because there is really something wrong in the loads or wiring connected to it, and it is doing its job. I would very carefully test whatever loads are connected to a GFCI that trips before I blamed the device.

One test is to disconnect the suspected load, at its end of the wiring, and turn power back on, then see if the GFCI trips again. If it does, then you have a problem with the GFCI or the wiring. If it does not trip, then you have pretty well narrowed it down to the load.

Anything involving a pool requires extra caution, careful attention to the rules for how it is wired, and testing to identify whatever problem it has. It sounds from your description like a high probability of a pump motor problem. If you don't /know how/have equipment/ to test for leakage then a call to the electrician is probably required.

An underground conduit will always have water in it due to condensation of moisture that comes in through the open end with the wires, regardless of how well the joints are sealed. If the wire is not rated for wet locations the insulation could be deteriorated and allowing leakage currents. The gasket on a box may be essentially waterproof but the box is not airtight and will let moisture in. If there is any problem with the gasket, then it may no longer be waterproof.

It sounds like your GFCI receptacles may not be wired properly, if you have to reset different devices each time the same load gets shut off. It is not a good idea to supply a GFCI device from the LOAD side of another GFCI device. The LOAD terminals are for powering additional non-GFCI receptacles in the area under the protection of that GFCI.

Thanks fo rthe reply, Billhart.

Presently, there is NOTHING plugged into any outlets on this line. The pool pump is disconnected and presently stored in my basement. What do you mean when you say to test the loads? Does that mean the individual outlet boxes?

Your last paragraph also confused me. There is only ONE GFCI outlet for this line. It is the GFCI outlet that is on the basement wall adjacent to the CB box. This GFCI outlet provides ground fault protection for the garage interior outlet and all the exterior outlets. Those are all just standard outlets downwind from the GFCI adjacent to the CB box. The only resetting I have been trying here is the GFCI outlet reset button and the CB switch for this particular line.

The usual cause of GFCI tripping without a load (something plugged in) is contact between the ground (bare or green) wire and the neutral (white) wire. This contact usually occurs at a receptacle either due to direct contact or contact when enough moisture accumulates to bridge the gap between the two.

With the power off, pull each outside receptacle from it's box, leaving it connected to the wires, try turning the power back on and reseting the GFCI. If everything works, you have a contact problem in one of the boxes. Neatly folding the wires and adding tape to the perimeter of the receptacle will help.

If it still trips, then you may have a problem underground. The PVC should be the gray electrical type, the white plumbing type is not approved for use in this application. The wire used should be individual runs of THHN/THWN 12ga wire in black, white, and green. An insulated ground is required here because of the pool connection. If this is not how it was done, I would suggest you call the electrician back.

another follow-up to my GFCI issue........I was looking at the GFCI and CB box again last night, playing with the GFCI reset switch. To re-iterate, with the CB switch for this line OFF, I can reset the GFCI without problem. With the CB switch ON, the GFCI trips right away, and pushing in the reset button doesn't stay reset, it just pops back out immediately. So, last night, with the CB switch ON, I tried playing with the GFCI reset button again. I was going to try holding in the reset button to the point where the red trip light goes off, keep holding the button in, and plug in a device right at the GFCI to see if juice goes thru and powers the device. Well, I somehow managed to get the reset button to stay in on its own last night. It seems to somehow managed to "catch" and stay in, so juice is flowing thru this line again. This was repeatable at times last fall when the problem first arose, as I mentioned in my origianl post. Given this, would that lead you electrical pros to believe that the GFCI itself might be somehow faulty?

I would suspect moisture in one of the outside boxes.

well, again, the GFCI box down in the basement next to the CB box has tripped. I can't seem to get the reset button to "set" again. The successful reset I reported last Wednesday morning lasted less than 24 hours. CRUD!! I'll try following Normel's advice and pull those outlet boxes out and retesting to see if it could be the ground wire getting interfered with.

Thanks..............

If you are comfortable changing receptacles, swap out this GFCI with a known good one, like from the kitchen. If this circuit in guestion trips the new GFCI you know you have a problem with the circuit, if the same GFCI trips on a new circuit then it is the GFCI.

If you are not comfortable changing outlets, call an electrician.

Sounds like the best thing is to split up some of the circuits. With a lot of wire you can get capacitive coupling to ground. Normally not enough to trip but when moisture etc gets in it is much more sensitive. Leakage to earth will trip it just as quick as to the ground wire.

The best way to test it out is with a megger, I do not know if you can rent one or not. Megger each line to the earth ground after all ends are disconnected. Rule of thumb 1 megohm resistance plus the operating voltage (about 1.2 megohm)for minimal resistance. If it is lower then that you will have to replace the wire. I have seen this done with a high impedance ohm meter but personally I would not trust it. If it shows bad it is, if it shows good maybe.

Hi, again.

Thanks to some friendly advice above, I have isolated my GFCI failure to the line from my outside outlet on the back of the garage to the post by the pool that has the pump outlet and ON/OFF switch boxes. Again, there is a conduit (white PVC) that runs from the outside outlet, down 3 feet to ground, continuing down 18-20 inches below ground, then across 8 feet and surfacing back up at the post. What's the difference here between white plumbing PVC and grey electrical PVC? I disconnected the pool line wires from the outside electrical box to confirm the problem here. I took the outside outlet cover off and will leave it off (WITH THE POWER OFF, of course) to air out better. If I reconnect and test and the GFCI still trips, then is my only option to dig up the conduit and start over? My assumption is that rain water got into the outside electrical box because it sticks out from the side of the house and maybe wasn't weather sealed good enough, or there is water seeping into my conduit somehow. Billhart above mentioned "An underground conduit will always have water in it due to condensation of moisture that comes in through the open end with the wires, regardless of how well the joints are sealed. If the wire is not rated for wet locations the insulation could be deteriorated and allowing leakage currents. The gasket on a box may be essentially waterproof but the box is not airtight and will let moisture in. If there is any problem with the gasket, then it may no longer be waterproof". I don't know. I do know that the spot where the conduit goes down underground gets a lot of rain run-off from the garage roof overhead, and the ground here where I dug the trench has settled some, and during rain storms, it puddles up here. Suggestions at this point? I'll begin to open the pool in another 6 weeks and need the juice flowing again. Thank you!!

I will reinterate what was said earlier. The fact that it trips with no load and as soon as power is applied is almost certainly an ground-to-neutral fault.

Keep dividing and conquering. It's unclear to me, but what have you tried at the other end of the conduit.

If the wire is not rated for wet locations you have a major code violation on your hands. Conduit (regardless of the gasketing and boxes attached to it) in wet locations are still wet locations.

Assuming that the proper wire was used (it should be marked TWHN or such), it's unlikely that it's the wire that's failed but the terminations/junctions.

You don't have to dig up conduit. If you can pull all the wires back out of it, pulling new wires in shouldn't be a problem (it's only really a pain trying to get a wire into a conduit that still has something in it).

Thanks for the guidance, people! I resolved my GFCI trip issue today. I disconnected the wiring of the outlet and switch boxes at the post adjacent to the pool. The GFCI was reset and the juice was flowing, so the problem appeared to be in one of those boxes. I just reconnected the wires and retested while the devices were pulled forth out of the boxes, and everything worked fine. So it must have been a bad connection or ground-neutral wire contact that was causing the trip. A good learning experience.

Thanks again!!!

3 GFCI receptacles have been overheating in my apartment x 3 weeks, with nothing plugged in.It occurs in cycles of warm, hot, then they cool completely and begin the cycle within a few hrs. All 3 since replaced, still overheating .I live in an apartment complexand apparently management is too cheap to send electrician, so a variety of maintenance workers have been making repairs to the wiring (aluminum type)in their attempts to find the cause of the overheating. One GFCI was found to be wired "backwards", replaced, still overheating. At my insistence an electrician be called,one did inspect wiring and informed me there was no problem with the wiring, that he, and later,maintenance under his "instructions" rewired and replaced the GFCI outlets. At my insistence, he removed the receptacle cover and found a burnt wire in the circuit and a dead wire in another GFCI circuit in my presence and the prescence of maintenance workers. He showed me a red plastic component that he said also was faulty. He returned later after I reported the GFCI's continue to overheat and said he could do no more, that everything was fine.After a total of at least 15 "inspections and repairs by these workers, the overheating continues. I demanded the electrician leave a full report of his inspection, what was found and his repairs. I had earlier spoken to the town building/fire inspector about he problem and informed him a licnesed electrician was called and he tiold me to get back to him afterward. The electrician left a brief summary- "inspection of electrical circuits has been completed by.....and found to be in accordance with the Nat'l Electrical Code. We have found no problems as of 4/16/08".
As the overheating continued, I called the fire dept who inspected the wiring and ruled out any fire in the walls. the fire chief said the GFCI that are installed are incompatible with the aluminum wiring and instructed maintenace to install the proper type.This has not yet been done. I have written a letter to the town buiding/ fire inspector since,requesting a thorough inspection and provided a summary of the above.I have been shutting off the GFCI circuits from the breaker box at night and when I go out, just to be safe.

MY QUESTIONS:
Is this a fire just waiting to happen, the longer these GFCI's remain connected to the circuits?
I read earlier that it is illegal for unlicensed persons to be doing such repairs. If so, how can a million dollar corporation that owns the apartment complex be arranging such work through the property managers and getting away with it? An entire unit burnt down here last year, and two years ago an arc of elctricty shot out from a different outlet circuit. Each time maintenance made repairs, I assumed they were licensed elctricians. Now I am worried as I am looking at the big picture. They have been working on the aluminum wiring for years and who knows how bad it really is now.All the research I have done on aluminum wiring stresses the importance of having a qualified electrician who is familiar with this type of wiring make such repairs.I feel the management here has been minimizing the problem, so I sent them a copy of an article on the dangers involved with aluminium wiring, which contained info onthe correct GFCI's that need to be installed.
I don't want to sue anyone, I just want to be safe. Do you have any suggestions on any other course of action I can take to determine the safety of the wiring here?
Is it not unethical for the licensed electrician to leave out important information from his report? I checked and he is licensed. Is there any agency I can report this to,or have I covered it all through the town building/fire inspector?
thank you and I apologize for the length here.

I'm an electrical contractor. I typically buy GFCIs from Home Depot or Lowes. I think that the GFCIs these days are garbage. If it shorts out one time it is toast. They often fail for no apparent reason. They are supposed to protect people from electric shock. I hope that is what they are doing. But I can tell you for sure that you can get bit hard from a GFCI. I honestly don't know if these things are saving lives or not. The truth is that the code is made up by lobbyists representing all sorts of organizations and corporations. Now the code wants us to install several GFCIs and quite a few AFCIs as well. People believe that these rules are making life safer. I hope they are. The side effect is that this along with thousands of other laws and codes is continuously driving up the cost of building homes. Meanwhile half of the country is living below the poverty line. All of this stuff is made overseas and God forbid if we ever had to make these building materials here the prices would probably skyrocket.