Outside gfi Outlet

2211 Views 3 Replies 4 Participants Last post by InPhase277, Mar 29, 2009

jm219412

Discussion Starter · Mar 29, 2009

I am in South Carolina and I am having a problem with an outside GFI outlet. Whenever we get a extreme amount of rain the GFI outlet goes bad, It is not getting wet, but there was a little rust on one end of a black wire running to it. The Gfi is in the midle of the run and connected to anouther gfi in the bathroom on the same level. Do i have to have a gfi outside if it is connected to the one in the bathroom. As soon as the outside one goes bad it pops the one in the bathroom. I replace the gfi outside and it is fine until we get an other extreme storm. I put a good outdoor cover on it and it does not happen often but it is still a problem.

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Yoyizit

· #3 · Mar 29, 2009 (Edited)

jm219412 said:
and connected to anouther gfi in the bathroom on the same level.

Cascading GFCIs makes for difficult troubleshooting.

To check if moist cable insulation is causing the current leakage,
when the tripping condition shows up [or try to induce it with a sprinkling can]
disconnect the ground wire [treat the lifted ground wire as if it were energized] at the panel
and put an AC milliammeter in series with a 1/16A [or less] fuse between the lifted ground wire and the panel ground.
More than 4mA fails and more than ~100 uA is suspect.
Disconnect all appliances on this line first.
The fuse protects the milliammeter's internal fuse.

If it's not the cable, and it is not somehow the disconnected appliances, then it is almost certainly the GFCIs themselves that are tripping from moisture.

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