iRoyce Pressure Washer - Going from a GFCI plug to a normal 2 plug.

Karabazmos · Aug 17, 2023

I have a small power washer with a two-wire cord and GFCI plug. My outdoor and garage receptacles are on a "house GFCI" circuit, wired in series to one GFCI receptacle. I tried to use the power washer and the plug GFCI would instantly trip when plugged-in and instantly re-trip when reset. I have gone through several replacement connectors but each only last long enough for the current project. The pressure washer's GFCI would trip each time and I would need to replace it each time. It did this when connected either to the outside GFCI receptacle or to an inside, non-GFCI receptacle. I took apart the plug and it is a 2 wire GFCI on the pressure washer side. I want to convert the pressure washer GFCI to a regular plug. Regular plug is 3 wire. If I connect the hot and common to just the 2 bladed poles of the new plug, there will not be a ground?. Is this safe if it is plugged into an external house GFCI outlet, if it even works at all?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Avo Mk8 · Aug 20, 2023

If the supplied GFCI plug on the power washer is tripping, that would normally be because the current flowing in the hot wire is different from the current flowing in the neutral (return). That would happen when there's a leakage current flowing to ground within the power washer. If you have changed the GFCI and it carries on happening, I suspect your washer is faulty.

Don't change the plug because of the tripping - that would bypass a safety measure that the manufacturers are obliged to fit to the product to protect users. Removing it could make the situation dangerous. The tripping is telling you there is a problem in the washer that needs to be investigated!