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GFI and fluorescents in garage. Dan 12-30-2006
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Posted by Dan on December 30, 2006, 4:39 pm


I have an unattached garage that we wired for electricity a couple years
ago. I had a semi retired electrician consult and it was all inspected
and passed. I had three cheap fluorescent 4 foot fixtures in the
ceiling. The lighting circuit is on a 15 amp breaker and a 15 amp GFI
outlet. That's code and the inspector was fine with it.

Then last year one of the fixtures died and I replaced that setup with
six four-foot units that were more durable, and filled 'em with T8 32W,
daylight spectrum.

The light is great. Except now, after the lights are on for a while -
more than two hours, I think - if I turn them off, and then right back
on because I forgot something, the gfi trips. If I wait a few minutes it
won't trip. If I turn off two or three of the fixtures, it's usually
okay but sometimes still trips. I replaced the gfi outlet with one of
HD's "Heavy Duty" units. That lasted a little longer.

From some experimenting, I thought I had it narrowed down to one fixture
so I switched the bulbs out of that one with another, but now it seems
to be random. If three fixtures are off, the gfi doesn't trip. It's hard
to be sure because after a few minutes, the gfi doesn't trip any more.
I've had them on all day and everything's fine unless I turn them off
and then back on.

Anybody got any thoughts? I'm thinking I might have to run another wire
on another 15 amp circuit, and have two switched banks of three fixtures
each. But maybe I can get away with replacing all those fixtures. That
would cost more money that running another circuit up there, but I'm not
looking forward to crawling around running more wires and outlets and a
new switch. But maybe that's the only way.

Think it's the fixtures? Or am I just running too many fluorescents for
on gfi to handle?

Dan

Posted by RBM on December 30, 2006, 5:20 pm


If the lights are on the "load" side of the GFCI outlet, remove them and
install them on the "line" side. There is no NEC requirement to protect them
through GFCI



>I have an unattached garage that we wired for electricity a couple years
> ago. I had a semi retired electrician consult and it was all inspected
> and passed. I had three cheap fluorescent 4 foot fixtures in the
> ceiling. The lighting circuit is on a 15 amp breaker and a 15 amp GFI
> outlet. That's code and the inspector was fine with it.
>
> Then last year one of the fixtures died and I replaced that setup with
> six four-foot units that were more durable, and filled 'em with T8 32W,
> daylight spectrum.
>
> The light is great. Except now, after the lights are on for a while -
> more than two hours, I think - if I turn them off, and then right back
> on because I forgot something, the gfi trips. If I wait a few minutes it
> won't trip. If I turn off two or three of the fixtures, it's usually
> okay but sometimes still trips. I replaced the gfi outlet with one of
> HD's "Heavy Duty" units. That lasted a little longer.
>
> From some experimenting, I thought I had it narrowed down to one fixture
> so I switched the bulbs out of that one with another, but now it seems
> to be random. If three fixtures are off, the gfi doesn't trip. It's hard
> to be sure because after a few minutes, the gfi doesn't trip any more.
> I've had them on all day and everything's fine unless I turn them off
> and then back on.
>
> Anybody got any thoughts? I'm thinking I might have to run another wire
> on another 15 amp circuit, and have two switched banks of three fixtures
> each. But maybe I can get away with replacing all those fixtures. That
> would cost more money that running another circuit up there, but I'm not
> looking forward to crawling around running more wires and outlets and a
> new switch. But maybe that's the only way.
>
> Think it's the fixtures? Or am I just running too many fluorescents for
> on gfi to handle?
>
> Dan



Posted by Dan on December 30, 2006, 6:01 pm



> If the lights are on the "load" side of the GFCI outlet, remove them
> and install them on the "line" side. There is no NEC requirement to
> protect them through GFCI
>

Well that would certainly make it simple. :-)

And yes, they're on the load side. Okay, I'll do that tomorrow.

Thanks RBM.



Posted by # Fred # on December 31, 2006, 4:26 pm



>I have an unattached garage that we wired for electricity a couple years
> ago. I had a semi retired electrician consult and it was all inspected
> and passed. I had three cheap fluorescent 4 foot fixtures in the
> ceiling. The lighting circuit is on a 15 amp breaker and a 15 amp GFI
> outlet. That's code and the inspector was fine with it.
>
> Then last year one of the fixtures died and I replaced that setup with
> six four-foot units that were more durable, and filled 'em with T8 32W,
> daylight spectrum.
>
> The light is great. Except now, after the lights are on for a while -
> more than two hours, I think - if I turn them off, and then right back
> on because I forgot something, the gfi trips. If I wait a few minutes it
> won't trip. If I turn off two or three of the fixtures, it's usually
> okay but sometimes still trips. I replaced the gfi outlet with one of
> HD's "Heavy Duty" units. That lasted a little longer.
>

Lasted a little longer but also give you *less* protection.


> From some experimenting, I thought I had it narrowed down to one fixture
> so I switched the bulbs out of that one with another, but now it seems
> to be random. If three fixtures are off, the gfi doesn't trip. It's hard
> to be sure because after a few minutes, the gfi doesn't trip any more.
> I've had them on all day and everything's fine unless I turn them off
> and then back on.
>
> Anybody got any thoughts? I'm thinking I might have to run another wire
> on another 15 amp circuit, and have two switched banks of three fixtures
> each. But maybe I can get away with replacing all those fixtures. That
> would cost more money that running another circuit up there, but I'm not
> looking forward to crawling around running more wires and outlets and a
> new switch. But maybe that's the only way.
>
> Think it's the fixtures? Or am I just running too many fluorescents for
> on gfi to handle?
>
> Dan

Why not just connect the fixtures to the existing lighting circuit in the
first place? Either connecting to the line side of the GFI, as RBM
suggested, or to the lighting circuit will make the tripping go away but you
still have a stray ground leak somewhere enough to trip the GFI. What you
describe is not easy to troubleshoot. Its not your lamps and its not that
you have too many fixtures connected either, assuming you have no other
additional loads. Recheck you connections, the neutral in particular. Could
also be a bad fixture.



Posted by Dan on January 1, 2007, 1:07 pm



>
> Why not just connect the fixtures to the existing lighting circuit in
> the first place?

I don't understand. They ARE connected to the existing lighting circuit,
installed by a licensed electrician.

> Either connecting to the line side of the GFI, as RBM
> suggested, or to the lighting circuit will make the tripping go away
> but you still have a stray ground leak somewhere enough to trip the
> GFI. What you describe is not easy to troubleshoot. Its not your lamps
> and its not that you have too many fixtures connected either, assuming
> you have no other additional loads. Recheck you connections, the
> neutral in particular. Could also be a bad fixture.
>

No additional loads. Nothing but six fluorescents. To answer Dave's
question, hey're new, and they're not very heavy. I don't know for sure
whether they're all-electronic but suspect they are.

I used that little three-light tester on every outlet on that circuit,
and it indicated the wiring was correct. I've run continuity checks on
the ground wire (after disconnecting it from the box) and it all says
the ground is connected, and there's no continuity between the ground
and the other two leads.

I'm stumped in that regard. Not sure what to test now. I've got an amp
meter and have been checking the amperage on the lamps. They're all
running at about .5 amps.

When you say "a bad fixture", do you mean one of them could be leaking
some voltage to ground only when warm and only after being turned off
and then back on? That was my first thought, and I think I'll continue
with that line.

Thanks.


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