Hello,
I have a sub-panel in my garage and I decided that I wanted to use GFCI circuit breakers in my sub-panel and wire the garage with double gang outlets where the left plug is connected to one GFCI circuit breaker and the right plug is connected to a 2nd GFCI circuit breaker. Each outlet is attached by a separate romex feed (so no common neutral or ground).
When I switch on one of the GFCI circuit breakers everything is fine. When I switch on the 2nd GFCI circuit breaker I see a brief spark from the breaker and it trips the panel breaker (not the GFCI breaker).
I have tried the following...
1. Turn off the working GFCI circuit breaker and turn on the one with the issue. It still trips the panel.
2. Disconnected all but the first outlet to eliminate the rest of the wiring and only turn on the GFCI circuit breaker with the issue - same result.
3. Switched out the GFCI circuit breaker with another one and only turn on that one breaker - same result.
I have the black wire going to the load power lug, the white wire going to the load neutral lug, the coiled white wire (part of the circuit breaker) connected to the panel neutral bar and the ground from the outlet going to the ground bar.
There is nothing plugged into the single outlet and all the connections seem good. Does anyone know how to debug this? If I can remove all the wires connected to the GFCI breaker and only hook up the coiled white wire to the panel neutral bar and can turn it on and do the test trip, does this mean that the GFCI circuit breaker is good? Any help is appreciated...
Update - I attached the known good circuit to the GFCI circuit breaker that is giving me trouble and it works fine so the issue is my first section of wiring. I don't see any issues but I'll replace it and see if that resolves it...
SOLVED: That first section of wire had a short in it. I still can't find out where (I didn't look too hard) but I replaced that section of wire and everything is working perfectly now.
I have a sub-panel in my garage and I decided that I wanted to use GFCI circuit breakers in my sub-panel and wire the garage with double gang outlets where the left plug is connected to one GFCI circuit breaker and the right plug is connected to a 2nd GFCI circuit breaker. Each outlet is attached by a separate romex feed (so no common neutral or ground).
When I switch on one of the GFCI circuit breakers everything is fine. When I switch on the 2nd GFCI circuit breaker I see a brief spark from the breaker and it trips the panel breaker (not the GFCI breaker).
I have tried the following...
1. Turn off the working GFCI circuit breaker and turn on the one with the issue. It still trips the panel.
2. Disconnected all but the first outlet to eliminate the rest of the wiring and only turn on the GFCI circuit breaker with the issue - same result.
3. Switched out the GFCI circuit breaker with another one and only turn on that one breaker - same result.
I have the black wire going to the load power lug, the white wire going to the load neutral lug, the coiled white wire (part of the circuit breaker) connected to the panel neutral bar and the ground from the outlet going to the ground bar.
There is nothing plugged into the single outlet and all the connections seem good. Does anyone know how to debug this? If I can remove all the wires connected to the GFCI breaker and only hook up the coiled white wire to the panel neutral bar and can turn it on and do the test trip, does this mean that the GFCI circuit breaker is good? Any help is appreciated...
Update - I attached the known good circuit to the GFCI circuit breaker that is giving me trouble and it works fine so the issue is my first section of wiring. I don't see any issues but I'll replace it and see if that resolves it...
SOLVED: That first section of wire had a short in it. I still can't find out where (I didn't look too hard) but I replaced that section of wire and everything is working perfectly now.
Last edited: