blazenut Posted October 23, 2009 Report Share Posted October 23, 2009 1) If you wire a GFCI without a ground wire and test it with a GFCI tester will it trip the outlet? 2) What does it mean when you plug an outlet tester into a GFCI outlet and it shows that it is wired correctly, but when you test the GFCI (with the button on the tester) it shows that it has reversed polarity? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dirks Jr Posted October 24, 2009 Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 1) no 2) no ground Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blazenut Posted October 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 2) But why would it show up as grounded prior to testing the GFCI? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottpat Posted October 24, 2009 Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 Bad tester or the line/load is reversed on the GFCI outlet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Katen Posted October 24, 2009 Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 1) If you wire a GFCI without a ground wire and test it with a GFCI tester will it trip the outlet? No. Your handheld tester works by shunting a small amount of current to ground -- in effect causing a ground fault. If there's no ground, the tester can't create a ground fault and the GFCI won't know that it's supposed to trip. 2) What does it mean when you plug an outlet tester into a GFCI outlet and it shows that it is wired correctly, but when you test the GFCI (with the button on the tester) it shows that it has reversed polarity? I don't know. I've had that happen as well and when I've tested the receptacle with my multimeter, it checked out just fine. Then I opened the box and everything inside looked fine as well. I've never been able to figure out that one. If anyone has any theories, post them here. I'll mock them up and give them a try. I just tried Scott's line/load revere theory and it didn't produce the desired result. - Jim Katen, Oregon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon Whitmore Posted October 24, 2009 Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 2) What does it mean when you plug an outlet tester into a GFCI outlet and it shows that it is wired correctly, but when you test the GFCI (with the button on the tester) it shows that it has reversed polarity? I've noticed that before on GFCI's that won't trip with my tester, but will trip by pushing the button. I'm not smart enough to tell you why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phillip Posted October 24, 2009 Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 Boot leg ground or an old GFCI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Moore Posted October 24, 2009 Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 If anyone has any theories, post them here. I'll mock them up and give them a try. I just tried Scott's line/load revere theory and it didn't produce the desired result. Try a line/load reversal of the neutrals only. I don't know if it would or could do it but my thinking is that once power to the hot side is cut when the receptacle is tripped the tester may be sensing current on the still connected neutral. Even if that is a possibility (???) I would suspect the results would depend on what else was on that circuit, upstream. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottpat Posted October 24, 2009 Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 Gnomes playing tricks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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