My New House & Workshop

[Jim Oaks]

So did I see someone suggest checking and making sure the connections are tight on the back of the outlet?

 

[RonD]

Yes, and in the breaker box

Connections need a large enough surface area to transfer current without heating up
Heat causes amp draw to increase

If you have, or are using the "push in" hole on GFI outlet make sure to use the "strip guide" on it so wire goes in far enough
If you use the side terminals use the same length strip, or a bit more, but hook it after stripping, so it wraps around screw terminal

Transferring amps is all about surface area, larger diameter wire has more surface area, so higher amps need larger diameter wire

Stranded wire, like we use in 12volt systems, or 30+ amp 120vAC systems, has even more surface area to transfer amps

 

[Eddo Rogue]

+1. Electricity buzzes, connections get loose. My HVAC buddy taught me to always check the terminal screws.

 

[don4331]

Stranded wire, like we use in 12volt systems, or 30+ amp 120vAC systems, has even more surface area to transfer amps

DC power uses the whole wire to transfer amps, the higher the frequency AC, the closer to the surface you get.

Which is why you can surface harden bearing journals on axles for minimum cost - very high frequency only heats thin surface layer - which can then be quenched quickly. Blew visitors minds when you would grab axle by journal moment after they had seen it white hot.

At the other end, Jame Bay power is rectified to DC so that it can be sent to New York with minimal losses - DC using whole of wire versus AC only surface makes for lower resistance. Then converted back to AC before sending to consumers. If it wasn't such a PIA to step up voltage, DC has lots of benefits.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I'm annoyed with this microwave tripping the breaker. I pulled the GFCI breaker out and tightened the screws down tighter on the wires. The outlet is rated at 15 amps. The breaker is 20 amps. Would it help if I replaced the 15 amp GFCI outlet with one rated at 20 amps?

 

[racsan]

It might, worth a try.

 

[Curious Hound]

I'm annoyed with this microwave tripping the breaker. I pulled the GFCI breaker out and tightened the screws down tighter on the wires. The outlet is rated at 15 amps. The breaker is 20 amps. Would it help if I replaced the 15 amp GFCI outlet with one rated at 20 amps?

If it is the breaker in the panel that is tripping and not the GFCI device, then putting a different gfci outlet in shouldn't make any difference unless the outlet is defective. But it could be defective. I forgot where we are on this saga. Have you tried the microwave on a different circuit? Maybe put a

 

[Ranger850]

the suspense is killing me, Maybe puta "what" on "where"

 

[Uncle Gump]

put a bullet in the microwave... and a pot or pan on the stove?

 

[Jazzer]

You can only put a 20A GFCI breaker in if the cable is 12 gauge (wire size).

As had been said, it may be an intermittent fault in the microwave, so it’s a good idea to plug it into another (20A) circuit and see if it trips.

Any microwave that puts out more than 900 watts will trip a regular 15A breaker occasionally as the load is too great for 15A. The 15A breaker may be tripping on load, not ground fault.

-Jazzer

 

[RonD]

Yes, you can replace the GFIC with 20amp model but if the 15amp GFIC is resetting/blowing then its not an AMP issue, most likely its a device issue

Breakers reset when load on one wire exceeds the AMP rating
GFI resets when the 2 wires don't have equal current flow

 

[DILLARD000]

Several recent GFCI outlets I've installed were defective, overly sensitive, tripping unnecessarily;
replaced with a different makers GFCI then good.

 

[Jim Oaks]

The microwave worked fine on another outlet but the breaker would kick when the fridge kicked on. I realized there was an outlet by the sink for a microwave in the corner. There's one other GFCI outlet that runs off of it on the other side of the sink, but nothing is plugged in to it.

 

[RonD]

If you have a volt meter or AC power tester
Shut off the breaker and test what outlets are off now

Turn it on and another breaker off, and test what outlets are off

In Canada kitchen outlets are wire so the 2 plugs on a duplex wall outlet are NOT on the same breaker, and it makes sense if people have coffee maker and microwave or toaster on the same wall outlet they are not sharing one breaker

So top plug in on one wall outlet is connected to the bottom plug on another outlet over above another counter, and visa versa

 

[Jim Oaks]

The top and bottom outlets are on the same circuits.