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Thank you all for your responses and I'll respond to each one providing the answers my husband gave me:

My husband has checked the load capacity and amperage and he says he is under this.

All wiring, plugs, GFI circuit breakers and breaker box are new.  We have 2 GFI circuits, one on either side of the barn.  

One side of the barn constantly trips even when reset even with nothing plugged in.  Yet if he plugs in a 300 watt light and reset while the light is turned on, the circuit holds...even after the light is turned off...and will then hold often times 3-4 days, when it starts all over again.  

The other side of the barn has been fine since it has been installed until last week when it got extremely cold.  This is not the first time that the water buckets on this side has required power. 
But in the night it tripped and this morning all the buckets were frozen...3 of them on that circuit.  He reset the breaker this morning and it has held since and is obviously working as the buckets are not frozen.  

Do we have gremlins or what?

Thanks for helping us trace this problem down.  
Val

On Jan 18, 2008 10:13 AM, Sisu West Ranch <ranch@xxxxxxxxxxx > wrote:

The GFI units are doing exactly what they are supposed to do.  If you have an electrical device plugged into a normal circuit breaker, the breaker will not trip until the total curent exceeds the value on the breaker for a considerable time.  This means that there could be a leakage (ground fault) in a water heater sufficient to give a noticable (or even fatal) shock to your horse and not even come close to tripping the normal breaker.  One of my older vets in WI said that before the use of GFI's was part of the electrical code, he often got colic calls in the winter when a small leakage in a tank heater turned the water into a mini electric fence and the horse stopped drinking.

 

With a GFI (it makes no difference if you are talking the socket kind or the breaker box kind) it will instantly trip, long before the leakage gets big enough to cause a noticable shock and everyone is happy. Usually the heater element is at fault, the cure is to buy a new one (much cheaper than a new horse or a colic call.).  Many barns have old, neglected wiring and often old extension cords run all over the place to the heaters.  Either of these can trip a GFI.  You just have to keep resetting the GFI while removing suspect parts of the circuit.  If you get to the wall and it still trips it is time to have the barn rewired.

 

ED

Ed & Wendy Hauser
2994 Mittower Road
Victor, MT 59875

 

(406) 642-9640

 

ranch(at)sisuwest(dot)us