Block heater is tripping GFI or regular circut in the house?

[apextrans]

My neighbor has an 05 F-250 & now when he plugs it in for the nite, it blows the GFI circut or regular breaker immediately. He has tried different extension cords & different outlets in the garage with no luck. Any ideas on whats doing this? It ain't the cord or outlets, gotta be the truck, right?

 

[sle2115]

My guess is that the cord, on the truck has a short in it somewhere. Could also be that the heater is shorted out internally as well, but usually they die open.

Oh, and I wouldn't be touching the truck when it is being plugged in!!!

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[argve]

the problem is as mentioned more than likely in the cord that is attached to the truck.

 

[flatlander]

Does it trip immediately or is it gradual?

If it's immediate, then it's a short. If it's gradual then it could be either a partial short, or the heater is overloading the circuit (which I doubt).

 

[sle2115]

Does it trip immediately or is it gradual?

If it's immediate, then it's a short. If it's gradual then it could be either a partial short, or the heater is overloading the circuit (which I doubt).

Quoted from original post: "it blows the GFI circut or regular breaker immediately"

That was what made me think short rather than overload.

 

[jharvey]

Yep sounds like a short in the cord (on the truck) or the heater itself.

 

[tonkadoctor]

If the circuit in the garage isn't running anything else, especially anything with a heating element, I would say it's shorted if it trips that fast.

I have to plug mine into the shop out back because the outdoor plug in the car port is tied into the kitchen outlets (20 amp circuit) ....and Mama ain't happy if she can't make her coffee AND toast her english muffins at the same time without tripping the breaker in the morning

 

[geonc]

Not being familiar with the 6.0, I would think the truck cord is a seperate connection from the element....remove the cord---prolly a simple clip like the 7.3--and check for chaffing, etc... with a DVM if cord has continuity then re-connect to element and ohm test.....KISS principle

 

[apextrans]

I passed all this along a few houses down & he's gonna check it out. He did tell me it's an occasional thing but getting more consistent. Thanks again fellers.

 

[58_Dodge]

The guy I work with has an 04 and he says that it trips his breaker in the house everytime he plugs it in when the truck is still warm. But he told me if he waits for the truck to cool down and then goes out and plugs it in, its just fine. Maybe ask your neighbor if it makes a difference being warm or cold. I'm not sure what would make it do that being warm, maybe less resistance in the heating coil? I donno.

 

[tbirdfiend281]

heat creates more resistance in electrical cirtcuts so that wouldnt be the case...

my 84 use to pop my circut breaker when id plug it in, once and a while, usually right after a rain, so i was thinking it was probably the house wiring being junk, but turned out the cord was chafed

the 6.0 block heater is hard to trace, but its odd his 05 cord would already be chafed...

 

[drumrunner]

The solution was, U can't plug a block heater into a GFCI outlet. You need a non GFCI circuit. It works fine now.

 

[jharvey]

Good to hear it's all good

But forgive my ignorance, why would a GFCI outlet cause the problem??

 

[argve]

there is probably a little corrosion on the end of the plug that is allowing just a small bit of current trickle over and the GFCI senses then and saves the day. Because the heater being a resistive load it should not trip a ground fault.

 

[Russ]

I've plugged my truck in to both type of outlets. Both on a timer. Occasionally the GFCI would be tripped in the morning. IIRC is was when either it rained or snowed. My best guess is that the water made a connection between the terminals and made the GFCI trip.