GFCI Breaker Tripping

[crokett™]

I have a 2yr old 20A GFCI breaker that is tripping. When I reset it, it does not trip again but stays on for some period of time. Last week it was several days, this week it tripped yesterday and today already. This circuit is for one room in my house. The usual load on that circuit is whatever 2 30" flat screens suck up when they're off, a printer and a desktop PC and a smart DVD player. The desktop is running all the time - it is a server. My wife also has a treadmill, but its normally powered off unless she's on it. The circuit has tripped when she's not using it. the lights in that room are on a different circuit.

Given the above, I'm hoping that if there is an actual ground fault, I'd expect the breaker to trip immediately, not after several hours or days. I can reset it, and it will stay on for at least several hours before tripping. If it were something heating up or some other problem I would expect it to trip immediately again after a reset, and stay off until things cooled down or the problem was corrected.

I can start digging into the outlets and disconnecting them but given that it may take several days to have any effect for whatever change I make, I'm wondering about simply replacing the breaker. Since the breaker is reset and doesn't trip again immediately Im wondering if there actually is a problem.

[Robert Adams]

Why on earth do you have a gfci breaker for that room?  Most likely it has failed. But it really should be a standard breaker for the room and the loads you have.

[crokett™]

Why on earth do you have a gfci breaker for that room?  Most likely it has failed. But it really should be a standard breaker for the room and the loads you have.

I don't know. It's what was installed by the factory. I thought it odd also. Some, but not all, of the other breakers are AFCI. Perhaps that's what they meant to have there. I did a visual inspection of each box after figuring out the branching. The ones at the end of a branch were easy. One of the boxes has 3 grounds in it. They are crimped together with a pigtail on the receptacle. One of the ends in the crimp may or may not have gotten through the insulation on a neutral. I re-arranged the wiring in the box and wrapped tape around the questionable spot on the neutral. We'll see what happens.

[EricU]

nowadays, it's supposed to be afci protected.  You could go with a normal breaker and first outlet in line be AFCI

[Robert Adams]

Afci would make sence as some states or localities require them in new cconstruction. They fail often like gfci as they are essentially the same thing now. They dont like computers. Have seen many with nuissance trips. I would swap it with a regular breaker then put the afci back in when you go to sell.

[crokett™]

thanks. I'll replace the breaker and see what happens. I didn't want to just be throwing parts at it.

[EricU]

Does any place actually require a breaker instead of an outlet protecting the circuit?  Seems like the outlets are pretty affordable, the breakers are a lot more than a normal one.  Of course, finding the first outlet in a circuit isn't always that easy.

[Robert Adams]

Does any place actually require a breaker instead of an outlet protecting the circuit?  Seems like the outlets are pretty affordable, the breakers are a lot more than a normal one.  Of course, finding the first breaker in a circuit isn't always that easy.

Yes. I have run into some citys that wont let you use one GFCI outlet in say a kitchen and then let it protect all the regular receptacles down the line. They want a GFCI on every single outlet because they dont trust them to be protected and they are too lazy to check if they really thought it was that important. 

      The GFCI breaker is less sensitive to nuissance trips than an outlet. Its also cheaper on an outdoor circuit as wet area GFCI receptacles are quite expensive. 
       Also if you price good quality GFCI receptacles they get expensive really quick if you need more than a couple. There is one brand the supply houses here carry that is pure garbage as about 20% are bad out of the box.  So dont always trust xommercial suppliers as i have seen the worst quality stuff being pushed by them because their profit margins are enormous on the junk stuff.

[Snipe Hunter]

Does any place actually require a breaker instead of an outlet protecting the circuit?  Seems like the outlets are pretty affordable, the breakers are a lot more than a normal one.  Of course, finding the first outlet in a circuit isn't always that easy.

Usually the GFCI or AFCI breakers protect several outlets in the line, so it's cheaper to use the breakers.

There is a large builder in this area who uses one GFCI "Outlet" in the garage, right off the main panel which feeds the garage and the exterior outlets. In their townhouses, it feeds all the bathrooms and one exterior outlet. I wouldn't do it that way but it makes it easy to inspect their homes. I never have to hunt for the tripped outlet because it's always in the same place.

[Robert Adams]

Usually the GFCI or AFCI breakers protect several outlets in the line, so it's cheaper to use the breakers.

There is a large builder in this area who uses one GFCI "Outlet" in the garage, right off the main panel which feeds the garage and the exterior outlets. In their townhouses, it feeds all the bathrooms and one exterior outlet. I wouldn't do it that way but it makes it easy to inspect their homes. I never have to hunt for the tripped outlet because it's always in the same place.

 That's how houses  (townhouses dont really exist here) were done here in the 80s and early 90s.