GFI Plugs/Receptacles

LilGTO71

Member
My wife, read me, is having a problem with the GFI receptacle in the bathroom of our new 2011 3300QS. When she plugs her hairdryer into the bathroom GFI receptacle, the breaker blows. However, when I plug it into the kitchen, it does not. As we have an extended road trip planned you can see where this might be an issue to my health. Thoughts?????
 

RollingHome

Well-known member
John, your bathroom GFCI is rated at 15 amps. Your wife’s dryer probably draws 1500 watts or about 15 amps. Now the bad news... the GFCI says 15 amps but it actually is only good for 80% continuously or 12 amps or 1200 watts... yikes. Your wife will need to switch to another circuit or get a smaller hairdryer ! Look for a 1000 watt unit for her, go to Wal-Mart and buy her one which will reduce your heartburn. However, there's always the chance her unit is defective and this is this cause... Probably not, got to believe scenario 1 is your problem, good luck :) Tom
 

Willym

Well-known member
When you say that the breaker blows, I presume that you mean the circuit breaker in the panel. If this is the case, the circuit current is too high because something else is on the same circuit, or the CB is weak. Some hair dryers can draw almost 15 amps. You could check the labelling in the breaker panel to see if it describes which outlets or loads (if any) are on the same circuit as your bathroom. Something like the fridge or converter, which are plugged in all the time, may be on the same circuit and causing the circuit to OL. You could try unplugging the converter and fridge and any other 120v loads that may be drawing power, and repeating the hair dryer test. Good luck, I know how important hair dryers are!
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
Consider this. If your reefer is running on 110, it's drawing about half of the available amps on that circuit. The reefer is plugged into a circuit protected by the same GFI that's in your vanity. Even a 1000 watt hair dryer may pop the breaker. In other words, what Willym said.
 

Willym

Well-known member
John, your bathroom GFCI is rated at 15 amps. Your wife’s dryer probably draws 1500 watts or about 15 amps. Now the bad news... the GFCI says 15 amps but it actually is only good for 80% continuously or 12 amps or 1200 watts... yikes. Your wife will need to switch to another circuit or get a smaller hairdryer ! Look for a 1000 watt unit for her, go to Wal-Mart and buy her one which will reduce your heartburn. However, there's always the chance her unit is defective and this is this cause... Probably not, got to believe scenario 1 is your problem, good luck :) Tom

As far as I know, most GFCI's only trip on current differential (live minus neutral) and do not trip on overload. In fact Leviton GFCI's are good for 20 amp feedthrough. If the GFCI is tripping, then there is current leakage to ground occurring. Please correct me if there are GFCI receptacle's out there with overload protection.
 

newbie

Northern Virginia
This is based on anecdotal evidence: My wife and daughter use 12-1500 watt hair dryers in our Landmark. We have the same 15 amp GFI. The only time the breaker will trip is if the kitchen coffee pot is on or something is plugged into the outside receptacles. I think you may have a weak breaker OR you have too many other things in use on that same circuit a the same time. I was unaware that the fridge was on the same circuit. Doesn't seem like it would need to be.

Good luck,
John
 
D

Dave Willis

Guest
On most models the kitchen and bathroom are on the same GFI line. My plant manager thinks that you might have a week GFI. I would try to put a new one in the bathroom and see if that works.

Thanks,
 
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