GFCI in Closet keep tripping, found it was tied to overhead lighting circuit. Normal?

Wryfox · Dec 16, 2022

Hello all! Newer house, original owner(Florida). no change to electrical system. Just found there was an outlet (GFCI) in the closet so I wanted to put a paper shredder in there but it didn't work because the GFCI was tripped. Would not reset so I changed it out, new GFCI will not set either. IN process of changing it out went to elect panel to turn off power, there was no note for this outlet on any circuit, so went one by one to find it and found it was tied to Garage/Laundry room/Master bath overhead/wall lighting circuit. There are load wires on this outlet but can't determine where they go because everything else works on this circuit, so tripped GFCI doesn't effect anything but this outlet. Strange. Is it normal to have a GFCI outlet tied to overhead lighting? And of course, any clue on why tripping? Everything else on this circuit works. Note I have never used this outlet before. Thanks

Megawatt · Dec 18, 2022

Wryfox said:
Hello all! Newer house, original owner(Florida). no change to electrical system. Just found there was an outlet (GFCI) in the closet so I wanted to put a paper shredder in there but it didn't work because the GFCI was tripped. Would not reset so I changed it out, new GFCI will not set either. IN process of changing it out went to elect panel to turn off power, there was no note for this outlet on any circuit, so went one by one to find it and found it was tied to Garage/Laundry room/Master bath overhead/wall lighting circuit. There are load wires on this outlet but can't determine where they go because everything else works on this circuit, so tripped GFCI doesn't effect anything but this outlet. Strange. Is it normal to have a GFCI outlet tied to overhead lighting? And of course, any clue on why tripping? Everything else on this circuit works. Note I have never used this outlet before. Thanks

First off it’s not normal to have a GFCI in your closet, and since this particular receptacle is the only one that stays tripped and will not reset after cutting the breaker off disconnect the wires on the bottom and see if it will reset. If not it could be bad or the live cable with the black and white wires could be crossed. The live cable both black and white needs to hook to the line side which is marked on the back and the load cable connects to the load side which is also marked on the back. Black hooks to the gold screw and the white hooks to the silver screws.

Wryfox · Dec 19, 2022

Megawatt said:
First off it’s not normal to have a GFCI in your closet, and since this particular receptacle is the only one that stays tripped and will not reset after cutting the breaker off disconnect the wires on the bottom and see if it will reset. If not it could be bad or the live cable with the black and white wires could be crossed. The live cable both black and white needs to hook to the line side which is marked on the back and the load cable connects to the load side which is also marked on the back. Black hooks to the gold screw and the white hooks to the silver screws.

So used your advice I checked the Line wires and they are attached correctly, with correct voltage orientation. The Load wires are dead as expected. Removed the load wires from outlet, trimmed and taped them off, tucked back into box. The load wires are apparently useless to me anyway as I suspect this GFCI has never worked so whatever the load wires go to is irrelevant now. We have never found another outlet or light fixture that doesn't work. Outlet now resets and works properly. Hooray!