[RFI] GFCI

[W2RU - Bud Hippisley]

On Oct 17, 2010, at 10:03 AM, Phil Snyder wrote:

>   Each wall of the 
> garage has it's own circuit which has a GFCI to protect it....I find that the GFCI is tripped 
> occasionally. 

I'm not clear from your posting as to whether your GFCIs are at the outlets or in the breaker box.  If they're in the breaker box, the wiring from the outlets is indeed likely to be acting like an an antenna and bringing RF back to the GFCI, which then trips (if you're lucky) or chatters (if you're not).

I had that problem with some "legacy" wiring in the older part of our home.  I solved it by switching to duplex outlet GFCIs.  In general, I found that easier to do that than to figure out how to filter power wiring at the breaker box.  If you do use outlet GFCIs (i.e., if your code will let you), be sure to place them at the FIRST outlet in each circuit's wiring run beyond the breaker box.  That way, they protect everything "downstream" from that first outlet.  Placing GFCIs at the first outlet will tend to minimize the length of the "antenna" seen by a GFCI.  It's the length of the run BEYOND the GFCI that acts as the antenna, since it's the apparent leakage on that run that the GFCI is trying to sense.  If a branch circuit runs all over the place from outlet to outlet, however, that may not work for you.  

Bud, W2RU