GFCI and long power run

[JoeR]

I have an intersting problem... I have a single duplex receptacle located 800 feet from the outside breaker panel. I have 10-2 UF feeding the outlet. I installed a Breaker/GFCI combo to feed the 800 foot run, but it seemed to trip almost every other day. I think the damp night air had something to do with it, but I am not sure. The outlet is in a standard weatherproof enclosure like you see around the outside of the house. What is causing this? Should I have a ground rod at the far end, and put the GFCI at the far end and remove the GFCI/Breaker at the near end?

Strange...

Joe

[Pat]

There are a lot of marginal quality GFCI products on the market. They may be U.L. or Canadian approved but they still don't last very well. One test to perform, especially if you have another GFCI breaker is to put a different GFCI breaker on that ckt.

What condition is the long run of wiring in? How tight is the water resistant cover on the outlet?

Provided the "INSPECTOR" doesn't write me up or a code is violated, you could use a regular breaker and a GFCI outlet. I bought a couple dozen GFCI duplex outlets from (dare I say it?) Harbor Freight and so far so good... no problems.

I have had GFCI breakers go bad but so far never a GFCI outlet.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[twstanley]

I second Pat's recomendations, you could have a weak GFCI breaker. I would try the normal breaker with the GFCI outlet and see how that does.

Make sure you don't have possibility of current leaking to ground, either in that long wiring run or at the waterproof enclosure. How old is the wiring run? Is it direct burial or is it in conduit?

[JoeR]

It is direct bury and only 3 months old. I will try another breaker. I already tried a GFCI outlet but it was on the outlet directly under the panel before the long run of wire. Basically, the wire goes from the panel to a duplex receptacle under the panel. Then is chains from the duplex receptacle and goes 800 feet to a final duplex receptacle.

I also need to do a close inspection of the far outlet. I probably have something simple like a loose wire... Sometimes I get tunnel vision when working on a problem like this...

Joe