Water fountain tripping GFCI


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Old 11-26-18, 06:54 AM
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Water fountain tripping GFCI

We have a water fountain that trips the gfci breaker immediately when plugged in. I don't think the breaker is faulty as we have two water fountain coolers and I've switched them around and the one trips on both gfci circuits while the other works properly.

I've plugged the faulty unit into a non gfci circuit and it runs fine but obviously that's not a good solution. I've looked for bad or frayed wiring, etc. but I don't see anything obvious. Could the start capacitor be at fault or is it probably just a bad compressor and we should replace the unit. Thanks for any suggestions.
 
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Old 11-26-18, 07:47 AM
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If it runs on a standard circuit, then the compressor is not faulty. With a GFCI tripping, that means there is something hot shorting out to ground somewhere in the unit. Any chance it has a small leak dripping into the electrics? If this water fountain also has a hot water spout it could be a faulty heating element.
 
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Old 11-26-18, 10:42 AM
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It does not have a hot water feature and I've not observed any water leakage into the interior.

Is it possible the start capacitor could be causing the problem, an electrician I know mentioned that.
 
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Old 11-26-18, 11:06 AM
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No.... the start capacitor could not cause that problem. Technically the compressor is ok because it's running but it could have a leaky winding to ground.

The only way to know for sure is to disconnect the compressor wiring and check the compressor wires to ground. There should be no continuity on the hot and neutral wire.
 
 

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