[PLUG-TALK] Strange A/C electrical issue (GFI breakers)

[Keith Lofstrom]

On Thu, Dec 29, 2022 at 04:00:35PM -0800, John Jason Jordan wrote:
> Re the GFI outlets, it might be simpler to replace the breaker in your
> entrance panel with a GFI breaker. 

Generally, that is a good idea. Sometimes, not so much.  
If your entrance panel is in the garage, and the circuit
you are protecting is in the bathroom, you may be 
"déshabillé" (au natural? Buck nekkid?) when you trip it. 

If the bathroom is where you dress before going out to the
unheated garage to reset the breaker, a sequencing problem
results.  A very cold sequencing problem in December.

But you might also forget to check for a GFI breaker in
the entrance panel before adding a GFI receptacle on that
branch, a bonehead maneuver I managed to perform a few
weeks ago.

Two GFI circuits in series do the darndest things. 

In my feeble defense, I thought I was adding the GFI 
receptacle to a different branch.  Doubling the guilt,
because in fact I installed the GFI receptacle on a
LIVE branch instead of the branch I turned off.  

This is where the power tracer tools can be very handy,
and I have one, but I didn't use it because "I thought
that I thought" when I was assuming I thought instead.

I am aware that I make a dumb mistake at least once a day.
I had already made a dumb mistake earlier that morning
(which ripped a nasty hole in the drywall), but did not
think I would make three dumb mistakes before noon :-(

Offlist, perhaps someone can suggest the best way to
neatly repair a hole ripped through drywall :-(
Fortunately, the hole was ripped on the garage side
where I was working, not the dining room side.

Keith

-- 
Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com