Home Improvement Asked by ssn771 on May 13, 2021
We’re purchasing a new construction home and had an inspection done on it. The inspector flagged that the bathrooms were not GFCI protected. The builder is telling me that the panel is using leviton GFI breakers (https://www.leviton.com/en/products/lb115-df) in the panel in the garage. I think they are model LB115-DF. I bought my own GFCI tester (https://www.lowes.com/pd/Southwire-Analog-120-Volt-Test-Meter/1000970284) and tried using that on the receptacles. The circuits in the kitchen trip when I press the test button on the GFCI tester. In the bathrooms, when I press the test button nothing happens. The power stays on to the outlet. The garage and laundry room receptacles trip when I use the GCFI tester and press the test button. All of the resets are on the panel in the garage.
Is the GFCI Tester I’m using not the right tool to test GFI Circuit Breakers? Also, all the breakers in the panel look the same. So I would assume all the circuits in the house have that protection, but it seems like only the Kitchen, Laundry, and Garage trip with the tester.
Is there a potential wiring issue here? Do I need a different tool for testing this type of breaker to be confident its working right?
If this were a old home I would say no problem if the tester on the breaker worked. But since this is a new home get the contractor to connect the grounds.
The GFCI can and will function correctly as it doesn’t use the ground at all in its circuitry. The GFCI circuits detect a difference in the current on the hot and neutral if there is an imbalance they will trip.
Your circuit tester places a resistance of ~15k from the ground to the hot causing a properly wired receptacle on a GFCI breaker to trip. If both your’s and the inspectors testers did not work some one was lazy and did not connect the ground and that is why the GFCI test is not tripping the circuit.
It can be a simple case of a wire coming loose but make the contractor fix it it will probably be a simple fix.
Answered by Ed Beal on May 13, 2021
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