My Roper washer trips gfci outlet as soon as it starts agitation
I have a Roper washer and it’s about 8 years old. I went to do laundry the other day and it filled up with water but as soon as it started agitation the breaker on the gfci outlet tripped. I reset it but it kept tripping it. The washer fills and spins ok but as soon as it tries to agitate it trips the gfci outlet. I would appreciate any help with this as I am out of work right now and if I can make repairs myself I would like to do that. Thanks you for you help.
Did this recently start happening……? Did you move the machine to a new location recently? Are you in a New house?
Anything with an electric motor can affect GFCI operation. This is a normal situation. GFCI measures the Current differential, between hot and neutral wiring, and trips in the event of current leakage outside the receptacles “Environment”. Unfortunately…..Electric motors can and usually do, generate excessive leakage all by them selves. That is what they were designed to do. What you are experiencing is this……The motor reverses direction to engage the agitate function. The momentary pause, and resulting spike, is enough to “Trick” the GFCI into thinking there is a current leak. Either replacing the receptacle with a newer style GFCI, or moving the machine to a NON GFCI protected location will usually rectify your problem.
Now the Catch…….Based on electrical codes, laundry room appliance circuits are required to Be GFCI protected. DEpending on your location , and the age of the house, your only solution would be to replace the Receptacle with a newer GFCI, and hope for the best.
