mln
New Member
I'm a new homeowner on a budget, trying to do things myself, remodeling the kitchen. My question pertains to a problem that I'm having with a gfci outlet.
Initially I wired the circuit using the load terminals on the outlet to feed another gfci outlet downstream. When I powered up the kitchen both outlets needed to be reset. This was the case at other outlets in the kitchen as well. When I pressed the reset button it popped, there was even a flash of blue light. The circuit at the breaker panel had flipped. I did some reading and concluded that GFCI's are sensitive and wiring the downstream gfci using the load terminals was not the right thing to do. I rewired the outlet, this time pigtailing to the line terminals only. When I powered up the kitchen this time everything seemed fine. I moved on to other things, hanging cabinetry etc. About four or five hours later, with nothing being plugged in, the same outlet popped. I have the circuit switched off now.
Here's my thinking, and I was hoping to get some other thoughts.
It's a 20 amp circuit with 12 gauge wire. I used the deepest box that I could for 100 year old 2x4 (4") framing. Nevertheless, the 12guage wire incoming and outgoing along with the pigtails crowded the box and required a little persuasion to get in place. Does it make sense that the wires jammed in like this created resistance which over the course of a few hours generated enough heat to short the circuit, flipping the breaker? is it just a bad gfci? or did i really screw something up?
My plan was to install a new gfci first and take it from there.
I'd really appreciate any thoughts. As mentioned I'm new to this, I'm trying to do things the right way without burning the house down.
Initially I wired the circuit using the load terminals on the outlet to feed another gfci outlet downstream. When I powered up the kitchen both outlets needed to be reset. This was the case at other outlets in the kitchen as well. When I pressed the reset button it popped, there was even a flash of blue light. The circuit at the breaker panel had flipped. I did some reading and concluded that GFCI's are sensitive and wiring the downstream gfci using the load terminals was not the right thing to do. I rewired the outlet, this time pigtailing to the line terminals only. When I powered up the kitchen this time everything seemed fine. I moved on to other things, hanging cabinetry etc. About four or five hours later, with nothing being plugged in, the same outlet popped. I have the circuit switched off now.
Here's my thinking, and I was hoping to get some other thoughts.
It's a 20 amp circuit with 12 gauge wire. I used the deepest box that I could for 100 year old 2x4 (4") framing. Nevertheless, the 12guage wire incoming and outgoing along with the pigtails crowded the box and required a little persuasion to get in place. Does it make sense that the wires jammed in like this created resistance which over the course of a few hours generated enough heat to short the circuit, flipping the breaker? is it just a bad gfci? or did i really screw something up?
My plan was to install a new gfci first and take it from there.
I'd really appreciate any thoughts. As mentioned I'm new to this, I'm trying to do things the right way without burning the house down.