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electrical mystery and musings
May. 21st, 2026 03:17 pmIn the continuing saga of my major appliances, I just happened to be awake the last two nights during the wee hours of the morning when the circuit for my induction stove tripped again. I'm pretty sure I heard the compressor of either my fridge or my heat pump turn on right then.
That makes sense: big motors switching on can cause electrical ground to bounce, thereby freaking out electronics like those in a ground fault interrupting circuit breaker. The first time I ever saw this happen was back in the early '90s. Better the GFI than, say, a computer or an oven's controller.
But why then? The aforementioned appliances turn their compressors on several times a day. Why would they trip the GFI at roughly the same time of day – 0100 to 0400 – and with two to four days between incidents? I can only speculate. Does charge slowly accumulate in or dissipate from my house's entire ground connection, eventually making the GFI susceptible to the same bounce that happens all the time? That would mean my whole damn house isn't properly grounded, and that's not great.
Might it have something to do with goings on in the Wendling's apartment? I could hear him moving around down there. He's on a separate meter, but does he have a separate ground connection? I could, like, ask him to stay in bed at night like a normal person, even if only for a few days.
We're about to enter that wonderful time of year in Seattle when I can turn the HVAC system completely off. That'll be a good experiment, too.
That makes sense: big motors switching on can cause electrical ground to bounce, thereby freaking out electronics like those in a ground fault interrupting circuit breaker. The first time I ever saw this happen was back in the early '90s. Better the GFI than, say, a computer or an oven's controller.
But why then? The aforementioned appliances turn their compressors on several times a day. Why would they trip the GFI at roughly the same time of day – 0100 to 0400 – and with two to four days between incidents? I can only speculate. Does charge slowly accumulate in or dissipate from my house's entire ground connection, eventually making the GFI susceptible to the same bounce that happens all the time? That would mean my whole damn house isn't properly grounded, and that's not great.
Might it have something to do with goings on in the Wendling's apartment? I could hear him moving around down there. He's on a separate meter, but does he have a separate ground connection? I could, like, ask him to stay in bed at night like a normal person, even if only for a few days.
We're about to enter that wonderful time of year in Seattle when I can turn the HVAC system completely off. That'll be a good experiment, too.
