John Dirks Jr Posted May 15, 2014 Report Share Posted May 15, 2014 Have you ever had a three prong tester fail? I did today for the first time. When I pushed the GFI test button, I got a little fireworks show and not only did the GFI trip, but so did the breaker back at the panel board. The three prong tester still works for wiring tests but the GFI trip button no longer works. What happened here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Katen Posted May 15, 2014 Report Share Posted May 15, 2014 It's very common. Always carry a spare. It's just what happens with five dollar testers made in China. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dirks Jr Posted May 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2014 It's very common. Always carry a spare. It's just what happens with five dollar testers made in China. I had a spare. Just ordered more. Do you think I damaged the receptacle contacts such that it should be replaced? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Katen Posted May 15, 2014 Report Share Posted May 15, 2014 It's very common. Always carry a spare. It's just what happens with five dollar testers made in China. I had a spare. Just ordered more. Do you think I damaged the receptacle contacts such that it should be replaced? That would be very unlikely. A resistor probably blew inside the tester. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dirks Jr Posted May 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2014 I'll go ahead and mention the event in the report and suggest they have an electrician check it. If they want to bill me for it, that's fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kogel Posted May 16, 2014 Report Share Posted May 16, 2014 I'll go ahead and mention the event in the report and suggest they have an electrician check it. If they want to bill me for it, that's fine. It sounds like the breaker did what it is designed to do. I would recommend replacing the $20 GFCI simply because it may have a fault that led to the demise of your tool, and because it probably should have tripped immediately, IMO. Yes, what Jim said, a resistor has fried in the test button circuit. It was supposed to be rated for 5 Watts but cheap components fail. Pop it open and check it out. I am finding so many GFCI's that stays energized after tripping. I can't believe they are all wired wrong, so now I'm thinking maybe there is an internal fault that happens to them. Then there is the dubious value of paying someone to correct wiring on an old device. Replace it with a correctly wired new unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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