falconewk
Member
- Location
- Pasco, WA, USA
- Occupation
- Owner, Residential Journeyman
Went out to a client’s house today to troubleshoot some bathroom GFCI’s that she said were humming intermittently. She said it had only started in the last few weeks, which unfortunately coincides with a 600amp service (pedestal about 10ft from the house) upgrade we just did to the house.
The service upgrade is its own culmination of a nightmare: separate old service feeding a pool equipment shed turned out to be minus a neutral (thanks to a direct bury service entrance conductor having failed), which I only realized after my guys hooked up the owner’s new $20k hot tub with every bell and whistle you could imagine. We quoted a price to run the pool equipment panel back to the main house service, which I understood from my 2nd failed inspection on this project (the first missing the open neutral on the old 200amp service for the pool), to be pedestal CT service which I assumed had the rings actually installed in the pad mount underground fed transformer. Unfortunately the rings were in the 400amp pedestal (which didn’t look big enough in my opinion to be a 400amp CT). So the project turned into another unexpected change order of combing the house and pool feeds into a 600amp rack mounted free standing CT service. Long story short we were done, hoping to get paid when she can afford, having already giving a full discount for the $1500 project for the hot tub hookup that originally brought us to this project.
Back to my problem now... couldn’t find any issues with the GFCI’s and they never hummed while I was there. The 200amp Seimens panels were part of a full home rewire that done when she purchased a 1960’s architect designed “mid-century modern” single level ranch of sorts. One bathroom was a kids bath on one end of the house and the other was in the master. Both had a 12-2 nm feed supplying only the bath receptacle circuit for that bathroom. The master bath had a single 20amp Hubbell GFCI that was somehow non-tamper (not sure how that passed inspection). The other bath had (2) outlets, one load sided from another 20amp Hubbell GFCI that was again non-TR, my only consternation on this one was that there were two 12-2’s off the load side of the GFCI but I could only find one load side receptacle. Voltages were 122v at the outlets and I believe 122/241 or so at both panels. Replaced both GFCI’s with Leviton 15amp tamper with self test (realized later I screwed up on the Master Bath, should have been a 20amp). Most of the GFCI required circuits were protected in the panels with breakers and she didn’t mention any issues with them. The one other bath (a powder bath had a Leviton 20amp GFCI outlet with non-tamper once again) she said she hadn’t heard any humming from. Hoping I solved the problem by replacing the outlets, but curious as to whether others have run into similar conundrums with GFCI’s that I am told were working fine until the service upgrade?
The service upgrade is its own culmination of a nightmare: separate old service feeding a pool equipment shed turned out to be minus a neutral (thanks to a direct bury service entrance conductor having failed), which I only realized after my guys hooked up the owner’s new $20k hot tub with every bell and whistle you could imagine. We quoted a price to run the pool equipment panel back to the main house service, which I understood from my 2nd failed inspection on this project (the first missing the open neutral on the old 200amp service for the pool), to be pedestal CT service which I assumed had the rings actually installed in the pad mount underground fed transformer. Unfortunately the rings were in the 400amp pedestal (which didn’t look big enough in my opinion to be a 400amp CT). So the project turned into another unexpected change order of combing the house and pool feeds into a 600amp rack mounted free standing CT service. Long story short we were done, hoping to get paid when she can afford, having already giving a full discount for the $1500 project for the hot tub hookup that originally brought us to this project.
Back to my problem now... couldn’t find any issues with the GFCI’s and they never hummed while I was there. The 200amp Seimens panels were part of a full home rewire that done when she purchased a 1960’s architect designed “mid-century modern” single level ranch of sorts. One bathroom was a kids bath on one end of the house and the other was in the master. Both had a 12-2 nm feed supplying only the bath receptacle circuit for that bathroom. The master bath had a single 20amp Hubbell GFCI that was somehow non-tamper (not sure how that passed inspection). The other bath had (2) outlets, one load sided from another 20amp Hubbell GFCI that was again non-TR, my only consternation on this one was that there were two 12-2’s off the load side of the GFCI but I could only find one load side receptacle. Voltages were 122v at the outlets and I believe 122/241 or so at both panels. Replaced both GFCI’s with Leviton 15amp tamper with self test (realized later I screwed up on the Master Bath, should have been a 20amp). Most of the GFCI required circuits were protected in the panels with breakers and she didn’t mention any issues with them. The one other bath (a powder bath had a Leviton 20amp GFCI outlet with non-tamper once again) she said she hadn’t heard any humming from. Hoping I solved the problem by replacing the outlets, but curious as to whether others have run into similar conundrums with GFCI’s that I am told were working fine until the service upgrade?
