Quote:
Originally Posted by honkonmybobo
Thing that gets me is if it was the campsite power wouldnt it affect the other GFI ? I'm going to stop in at HomeDepot tonight and buy a GFI tester and if I can find a 30a to 15a adapter to check my 30A service.. if not i'll hook up to the 15A if it ( campsite side) tests good. I want to get this fixed before the winter !!!
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It might, or might not. If GFCI's are within specifications, they should trip at 4 to 6 mA of fault current. Because that's a decent range, you could have one that senses the fault sooner and reacts to it.
It might also be that the other GFCI isn't working properly. One study of building inspection records across the country in 2001 indicated that about 15% of GFCIs installed are not functioning. Usually when they fail, they just turn into a plain old receptacle and still provide power, but don't trip. They're particularly prone to surges from storms, utility switching, and other trainsients that come in on the power line.
The receptacle tester (any of them with the 3 indicating lights are fine) will give you a good ideaof any mis-wiring issues. I'd recommend you buy the cheaper $3 version that
doesn't have the built-in GFCItester. Why? The test/reset mechanism built into the GFCI actually does a better job of testing than any of the aftermarket testers. The built in test circuit returns the fault current onto the neutral conductor. The aftermarket testers have to return the fault current onto the ground counductor which isn't as elegant of a solution. I'm not knocking these testers, just pointing out that you don't really need to spend the money for that functionality.
Let us know what you find out.