[MikeFL]

Sorry Charlie but this site is for electrical industry professionals only. We are not allowed to advise DIY due to the inherent risk of death in working with electricity.



Good news is this site has a sister site over at www.DIYChatroom.com where there are plenty of good people ready to help you out. It's fast, free & easy to sign up and make the same post there that you made here.

Good luck with your project.

 

[lighterup]

prob levitons

 

[joebanana]

Why? Are they near a sink? Look up "counter EMF".

 

[Wirenuting]

Why? Are they near a sink? Look up "counter EMF".

My EMF counter was broke,,, it stunk to have to count by hand.

 

[bberg]

I am a licensed master electrician (MN EA003186).
I assume that there is some back emf involved, but have not run into this situation before.
I thought that this forum was to help other electricians that have run into new problems they haven't seen before.

 

[MikeFL]

I probably owe an apology. I woke up at 2am and came into the office and made coffe and turned on the computer and saw your post.


It starts out with "I have ..." and I took that to mean DIY.


My mistake.

 

[bberg]

Legrand

 

[joebanana]

My EMF counter was broke,,, it stunk to have to count by hand.

I just guess. :biggrin:

 

[eddy current]

I think your neutrals for the fans are mixed up and or shared with the GFI circuits

 

[joebanana]

I am a licensed master electrician (MN EA003186).
I assume that there is some back emf involved, but have not run into this situation before.
I thought that this forum was to help other electricians that have run into new problems they haven't seen before.

The clue was, "when I turn the fans off". This used to be a common problem with refrigerators, and deep freezes people had in their garages. Motors in particular sometimes cause tripping, depending on the GFI manufacturer, and the motor.
I used to run into it occasionally doing residential service calls.
Just relocate a non-GFI recep.

 

[gpop]

would be interesting to put a plug end on the fan then unplug it to see if it trips. Basic gfci looks for a balance between live and neutral. Break the live with a switch and the fan will act as a generator for a millisecond until the magnetic field collapses which may be seen as power on the neutral. (thats a total guess)

 

[frenchelectrican]

I just dont know what the OP did with the GFCI and if the fan is hooked up before the GFCI or after the GFCI .,, it may affect how it ran.

 

[Kawicrash]

....

 

[emtnut]

I think your neutrals for the fans are mixed up and or shared with the GFI circuits

#1 reason :wink:

If, from what the OP said, that 'separate' circuit GFCIs are tripping, then just disconnect the load side from the other circuits, and if the problem goes away, then indeed it's a shared neutral problem.

 

[jelhill]

prob levitons

Actually P&S

 

[Wirenuting]

A GFI feeding a GFI will also cause the upstream one to trip with light Loads..

 

[readydave8]

A GFI feeding a GFI will also cause the upstream one to trip with light Loads..

with all due respect I do not believe this to be true

 

[John Valdes]

Welcome to Electrician Talk bberg.
Thanks for taking the time to fill out your profile.

Sometimes us gate watchers get a little spooky. You are in the right place.

 

[lighterup]

with all due respect I do not believe this to be true

he may have meant one gfci feeding off the "load" side...(going to
another gfci unit from that load side of the first one).

I have seen this and the problem (AFAIK) was rectified by changing
the wiring method to feed the 2nd one off the line side of the first gfci.
I say AFAIK cause I heard nothing different since the service call.