Dual function breaker tripping

Phillip Land

Member
Location
Rome, Ga, US
Hi,
I'm hoping that I can get some advice on what's causing a GE DF breaker to trip. I installed a 20a circuit to feed 2 duplex receptacles under s sink - one for a dishwasher and the other for a disposal controlled by an air switch. The breaker only trips when both appliances are plugged in but not running. It trips within 5-10 minutes. It does not trip when either appliance is running nor does it trip when one or the other is the only thing plugged in. I also tried using another DF breaker in the panel and it does the same thing.
My gut tells me that it's the gfci component that is causing the problem but for the life of me, I don't know why it would take both things being plugged in for the breaker to trip
I would greatly appreciate any ideas as to what is going on here

Thank you,
Phillip
 

HEYDOG

Senior Member
Hi,
I'm hoping that I can get some advice on what's causing a GE DF breaker to trip. I installed a 20a circuit to feed 2 duplex receptacles under s sink - one for a dishwasher and the other for a disposal controlled by an air switch. The breaker only trips when both appliances are plugged in but not running. It trips within 5-10 minutes. It does not trip when either appliance is running nor does it trip when one or the other is the only thing plugged in. I also tried using another DF breaker in the panel and it does the same thing.
My gut tells me that it's the gfci component that is causing the problem but for the life of me, I don't know why it would take both things being plugged in for the breaker to trip
I would greatly appreciate any ideas as to what is going on here

Thank you,
Phillip
Does the breaker have led‘s that might indicate what’s causing it to trip? I would ohm out each appliance….still doesn’t make a lot of sense why it trips when nothing is running!
 

Phillip Land

Member
Location
Rome, Ga, US
If i ohm them out I don't think it will show anything because it would trip immediately on plugging it in. The only thing that makes sense is that there is ground leakage or neutral leakage on both appliances that individually falls under the 5ma threshold but when added together is more than the 5ma
 

Tjack303

Member
Location
Uruguay
Occupation
Electrical foreman
I had the same problem with a GE dual function breaker. Both appliances were fine by themselves but as soon I plugged them into the same circuit it tripped. Luckily for me there was another receptacle under the sink on a different circuit that I was able to plug the dishwasher into, so I did that and called it good. I was there for other work so didn't have too much time to spend chasing down the issue, I'd be interested to hear if someone does know what causes it.
 

Phillip Land

Member
Location
Rome, Ga, US
I had the same problem with a GE dual function breaker. Both appliances were fine by themselves but as soon I plugged them into the same circuit it tripped. Luckily for me there was another receptacle under the sink on a different circuit that I was able to plug the dishwasher into, so I did that and called it good. I was there for other work so didn't have too much time to spend chasing down the issue, I'd be interested to hear if someone does know what causes it.
Thanks, normally I have these kinds of issues with BR and Siemens, not GE
 
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