Towel dryer started tripping GFCI

[PapaKlix]

I have a towel dryer on an interior wall in my bathroom, wired off the last stop in my loop of bathroom outlets. This thing has been installed for 6 or 7 years without issue but recently the GFCI outlet that starts the whole loop started tripping and it got worse to where now I can't get it to reset unless I disconnect the dryer. For fun, I tried just removing the ground from the dryer's wiring and that will allow me to reset the outlet but of course that's not a safe solution. Any ideas on how to resolve this? Is the dryer just toast and needs to be replaced?

 

[mainline]

I have a towel dryer on an interior wall in my bathroom, wired off the last stop in my loop of bathroom outlets. This thing has been installed for 6 or 7 years without issue but recently the GFCI outlet that starts the whole loop started tripping and it got worse to where now I can't get it to reset unless I disconnect the dryer. For fun, I tried just removing the ground from the dryer's wiring and that will allow me to reset the outlet but of course that's not a safe solution. Any ideas on how to resolve this? Is the dryer just toast and needs to be replaced?

Is this a water/oil type towel rail ?

Really, an insulation test should be done.
It is more than likely to be the heating element.

 

[westward10]

Do not leave the dryer connected with the ground disconnected.

 

[James]

Just to note, your “just for fun” experiment had the potential to be fatal to you or anyone else in the property.

it is not a useful or valid test.

PLEASE DO NOT REPEAT IT.

 

[Megawatt]

I have a towel dryer on an interior wall in my bathroom, wired off the last stop in my loop of bathroom outlets. This thing has been installed for 6 or 7 years without issue but recently the GFCI outlet that starts the whole loop started tripping and it got worse to where now I can't get it to reset unless I disconnect the dryer. For fun, I tried just removing the ground from the dryer's wiring and that will allow me to reset the outlet but of course that's not a safe solution. Any ideas on how to resolve this? Is the dryer just toast and needs to be replaced?

The first thing that you can do is replace the GFCI and if that doesn’t work then you may have problems in your dryer. Please never unhook the ground wire and try applying power to your dryer.

 

[PapaKlix]

The first thing that you can do is replace the GFCI and if that doesn’t work then you may have problems in your dryer. Please never unhook the ground wire and try applying power to your dryer.

Thanks for the reply - yeah, first thing I did was swap out the GFCI and the new one is behaving exactly the same. I thought there was something wrong with the towel dryer but the dang thing is $450 so hoping there's a way I can fix it.

 

[PapaKlix]

Is this a water/oil type towel rail ?

Really, an insulation test should be done.
It is more than likely to be the heating element.

I'm not sure what the difference is between a water/oil type rail. I checked the product page and it doesn't reference either of those things. This is the dryer: Radiant Large Hardwired Square - Amba Products - https://ambaproducts.com/product/radiant-large-hardwired-square/

How would I go about doing an insulation test?

 

[Megawatt]

Thanks for the reply - yeah, first thing I did was swap out the GFCI and the new one is behaving exactly the same. I thought there was something wrong with the towel dryer but the dang thing is $450 so hoping there's a way I can fix it.

One more thing to ask is the GFCI a breaker or receptacle

 

[PapaKlix]

One more thing to ask is the GFCI a breaker or receptacle

It's a receptacle.

 

[Avo Mk8]

I'm not sure what the difference is between a water/oil type rail. I checked the product page and it doesn't reference either of those things. This is the dryer: Radiant Large Hardwired Square - Amba Products - https://ambaproducts.com/product/radiant-large-hardwired-square/

How would I go about doing an insulation test?

From the FAQ's on the website, your "Radiant" model uses a dry resistance wire running through the tubes, which they say is not repairable!

• Dry Element technology: These models have a resistance-style wire cable that runs through all horizontal & vertical bars (note – many competitors only have horizontal bars that heat up!). The benefit is rapid heat-up time, regardless of the size – 10 to 15min. Note – heating cable cannot be repaired but is covered under the product warranty.
• Our Sirio, Quadro, Antus, Vega, Solo, Swivel & Radiant collections use this technology

An insulation test really requires a multifunction tester, or specialist high resistance tester using 120V or higher to do the test. An ordinary multimeter on the highest resistance range might give some indication whether there is leakage between the live connection and the metal tubes/ground connection, but your 'experiment' seems to have proven that already!

 

[PapaKlix]

From the FAQ's on the website, your "Radiant" model uses a dry resistance wire running through the tubes, which they say is not repairable!

• Dry Element technology: These models have a resistance-style wire cable that runs through all horizontal & vertical bars (note – many competitors only have horizontal bars that heat up!). The benefit is rapid heat-up time, regardless of the size – 10 to 15min. Note – heating cable cannot be repaired but is covered under the product warranty.
• Our Sirio, Quadro, Antus, Vega, Solo, Swivel & Radiant collections use this technology

An insulation test really requires a multifunction tester, or specialist high resistance tester using 120V or higher to do the test. An ordinary multimeter on the highest resistance range might give some indication whether there is leakage between the live connection and the metal tubes/ground connection, but your 'experiment' seems to have proven that already!

Thank you for the thorough response and explanation!