I got a dehumidifier to try and fix from a friend supposedly it was "tripping breaker" (unsure they meant GFCI or fuse/breaker in panel).
I didn't really want to trip a breaker so I rigged up a 14AWG cord from a junk power strip (cord is fine), I Connected the ground of the cord to the ground on an outlet. The neutral side of the outlet had the sockets in a bridge setup, the hot side was not so I put the hot from the cord to one screw, the neutral to the other hot screw. I then plugged a hair dryer in the one receptacle which was linked in series via the bridged neutral side on the outlet to the dehumidifier.
Soon as I plugged the entire setup in to my bench the GFCI on my bench and another one down the circuit in the house both tripped.
I see no reason looking at the dehumidifier for this to happen no shorts, all seems fairly normal. Although when testing for shorts on the dehumidifier plug I was getting like 100 ohms between neutral and ground (which seemed odd as usually they are either isolated or connected with caps or MOVs in the appliance). There is a fuse in the unit rated 3A (which was not blown) which protects the digital control circuit and blower fan, compressor was just liked to a relay then out to the line in.
I can't see issue in the dehumidifier unless the compressor is bad or a relay is arcing, but tested all relay contacts with ohm meter and they seemed fairly normal. Or something is going on with having the blow dryer in series to try and absorb the surge that caused it to trip breaker.
I' inclined to say it's the dehumidifier as that was why I was asked to fix The date code if I read right said 2002 it's a Westpointe brand which I don't recall ever hearing about before had UL sticker though so expect is not a real junk brand.
Any ideas? Should I maybe try and bypass GFCI and see what happens, or should I try and find a fairly unused non GFCI circuit and plug in direct and see what happens? Or should I just stop now and tell them I think it's over 10 yrs old I think it may be time to just replace it.
I didn't really want to trip a breaker so I rigged up a 14AWG cord from a junk power strip (cord is fine), I Connected the ground of the cord to the ground on an outlet. The neutral side of the outlet had the sockets in a bridge setup, the hot side was not so I put the hot from the cord to one screw, the neutral to the other hot screw. I then plugged a hair dryer in the one receptacle which was linked in series via the bridged neutral side on the outlet to the dehumidifier.
Soon as I plugged the entire setup in to my bench the GFCI on my bench and another one down the circuit in the house both tripped.
I see no reason looking at the dehumidifier for this to happen no shorts, all seems fairly normal. Although when testing for shorts on the dehumidifier plug I was getting like 100 ohms between neutral and ground (which seemed odd as usually they are either isolated or connected with caps or MOVs in the appliance). There is a fuse in the unit rated 3A (which was not blown) which protects the digital control circuit and blower fan, compressor was just liked to a relay then out to the line in.
I can't see issue in the dehumidifier unless the compressor is bad or a relay is arcing, but tested all relay contacts with ohm meter and they seemed fairly normal. Or something is going on with having the blow dryer in series to try and absorb the surge that caused it to trip breaker.
I' inclined to say it's the dehumidifier as that was why I was asked to fix The date code if I read right said 2002 it's a Westpointe brand which I don't recall ever hearing about before had UL sticker though so expect is not a real junk brand.
Any ideas? Should I maybe try and bypass GFCI and see what happens, or should I try and find a fairly unused non GFCI circuit and plug in direct and see what happens? Or should I just stop now and tell them I think it's over 10 yrs old I think it may be time to just replace it.