Message from @Deleted User
Discord ID: 369547792059727872
A breaker Works off of heat. Heat and amperage are synonymous. If the breaker is just tripping intermittently it could be that the breaker is getting weak from a constant load being on it. Depending on how frequently the air conditioner Cycles it may just be wearing the breaker down. I would suggest replacing the 20 amp breaker
Yeah I was thinking that too. We’re really running the bejesus out of that circuit
@Deleted User That's what I was thinking. He could have one of those GFI breakers.
Yeah it’s GFI
In that case it probably is the moisture. Just elevate the unit so that it doesn't collect water.
How is the unit connected to your panel? Is it plug and cord, or hard wired?
Cord. We have it elevated quite a bit, with about a 3% slope and drain holes drilled out
@Deleted User Do they make water proof covers that are water tight when a cord is plugged in?
Ah you think it might be moisture at the plug?
@Deleted User If it's tripping the GFI, it's probably where the cord hits the outlet.
Nice. Will have a look
Post that pic
@Deleted User You're sure the GFI is tripping, not the breaker?
Yes because I don’t have to go back to the panel to reset it
I just trip the gfi
Ok, yeah, it's definitely moisture. When Greg gets back and you post your pic we can think about hardwiring it inside a weather proof box.
Rgr thanks lads
Oh so it is the GFCI that is tripping and not the breaker? I got you. A GFI plug is sensitive to condensation and humidity. If there is considerable moisture building up in the area where the outlet is located you're going to have to try to isolate it in some Manner. Pictures would help definitely. It's possible you may be able to move the outlet or relocate the cord through the wall and plug it up exterior
Well the wife just told me she’s had to run to the panel several times so it might be both lol!
Yes I would go ahead and replace the breaker and the GFI outlet itself. You can get a 15 amp GFI outlet for about $13 and depending on the style of breaker it may be as the little as 5 or $8 to replace
@Deleted User make sure you go outside to where your meter is and disconnect the entire house before you open your panel.
@Deleted User So I tried to replace an outlet due to the plastic breaking on one of the receptacles. The new one is GFCI. The old one is decades old (possibly from the 50s) and the wires are from 1939 so I can barely see the white/black on the insulation. The outlet screws into a metal box, but it's loose in the wall (not totally detached, but loose) and I can't see if it's grounded to any pipes or what have you. There are no ground wires in the box. I wired the new outlet the same as the old: no power, LED unlit. I figured maybe the line/load was reversed so I switched them, now the LED lights up green but there's no power to the receptacles and it won't Reset. Is this thing just not grounded? Do I need to run a copper wire from the box to a pipe in the wall?
It's mid-series if that makes a difference
@John Mackenzie if you have a means of testing the circuit you can test from each conductor to the metal box and see if one of them has voltage. If it is an old metal clad cable called BX the shielding may be grounded. They do not intend for the shield to provide a ground for the receptacle though. On a GFCI receptacle polarity does matter. The energized conductor needs to go to the hot side which will have a gold screw. The GFI also has terminals marked line and load. To feed receptacle you use the ones marked line. The outlet will work properly with just a hot and a neutral attached. It does not have to have a ground. There is a code ruling which says you can replace an old two prong outlet with a GFI outlet without having to provide a ground to it because the GFI is a safety feature
Hm.. I thought it had to be grounded or it would trip
Ok then I'm at a loss for what's wrong, I put the old one back in and it works fine
I put the power to the gold screws and neutral to silver screws
And I swapped them when I thought I mixed up line and load, but it didn't work either way
The hot wire goes on the gold screw the white wire goes on the silver screw. The silver screw is for the neutral. Both of these two wires will go on the upper portion of the outlet marked line. How many wires total are you working with two or four
Four
One pair of wires meaning a black and white are the feed circuit coming in. These will have to go to the terminals marked line. The other two wires can go in the load terminals. If you had the hot wire landed properly but had the wrong neutral paired with it the light may work but the outlet will not function properly. You will have to get the hot and neutral paired correctly
Hopefully you can just look at the box ifthe cables come in in separate connectors it's easy to see which two are a pair
They don't, they all come in separately lol, I tried to look back behind the box but I can't see
Can you take a picture of the box and send it to me
It's at my mom's house, I'll stop by after work tomorrow and take a pic
And if you can try to take some type of a tester with you even if it is just a small hand-held light. test light. What it is is you had a hot and neutral come into the Box and feed the outlet and then a pair of wires going out to another load Downstream. You have to identify that pair that it's coming in live. With a test light you should be able to test cross the wires until you find the two that read hot. That should be your hot and your neutral that you would put on the line side.
But if you have some small tester like that I could talk you through it easy enough
Isn't that weird though that it works fine with the old outlet, and after installing the new one in one configuration I swapped the positions of the black wires w/each other and the positions of the white wires w/each other, and it didn't work in either configuration? Then I reinstalled the old outlet and it works fine? Even if I mixed up line and load, I swapped it and still got nothing.
Eh I'll grab a test light and report back tomorrow