# My GFCI has gone TU

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-gfci-has-gone-tu/452611>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 11, 2008, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-gfci-has-gone-tu/452611 "2008-06-11T19:47:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-gfci-has-gone-tu/452611/21 "2008-06-14T03:16:43Z")

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Since you did say that an exterior receptacle is involved, you should ensure that a good quality gasket is present, and to meet current NEC, it needs a “when in use cover”, which protects the plug and receptacle connection from rain intrusion.

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**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-gfci-has-gone-tu/452611/22 "2008-06-14T03:54:50Z")

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[QUOTE=danceswithcats]  
Since you did say that an exterior receptacle is involved, you should ensure that a good quality gasket is present, and to meet current NEC, it needs a “when in use cover”, which protects the plug and receptacle connection from rain intrusion.  
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This is pretty much what I came in to say. I had an occasional GFCI trip in one bathroom and I traced the problem to an exterior receptacle that wasn’t sealed properly. The piece of information that allowed me to find it (AFTER replacing a perfectly good GFCI plug :mad: ) was noticing that it happened only after a heavy rain. I’ll wager that you have a similar problem. In my case, replacing the gasket wasn’t sufficient. I had to redo the silicone caulk that was at the top of the outlet plate.

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**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-gfci-has-gone-tu/452611/23 "2008-06-14T13:42:24Z")

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I’ll join the bandwagon. If it’s getting damp in the outdoor box, enough electrons may be swimming from the hot wire to ground to trip the GFCI - one of the reasons for using such devices in potentially damp locations.

I sympathize with you - we’ve had way too much rain in Kansas the past six weeks, though not the flooding you folks have seen.

> [@](#):
>
> …I think I’ll leave it alone for a while.

Ah, the first rule of troubleshooting: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! 😃

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