The mysterious case of the ALCI hair dyer and the GFCI outlet

[eds451]

Just returned from a week in the Gold Country of central California in our Cougar 5er. Had a wonderful time at an outstanding park. (another topic). Anyway, the DW bought a new hair dryer since our last outing, a Conair thing with the new ALCI breaker on the plug. Kinda looks like a GFCI, but it is not. When she plugs in the dryer in the GFCI outlet next to the bathroom sink, nothing, no power, nada, zip. Plug ANYTHING else in and it works fine. To add the mystery, I can plug the dryer into any GFCI controlled outlet downstream and it works fine. It is just the outlet next to the sink.
OK guys, solve this one and make me a hero.
P.S. I already replaced the GFCI outlet.

[Bob Landry]

If you have one of those $8 circuit testers that Home depot sells, check the outlet for a reverse polarity condition.

If that's OK, pull the GFCI(I assume that's where you are plugging in the hair dryer) disconnect and expose the wires going to the GFCI. Obviously, do this with the power off. Turn the power back on and check voltage on the exposed wires. The hot and neutral that are hot should have been connected to the line terminals on the GFCI. The outlet has two sets of terminals, line and load, and it does make a difference how it is connected.

if all fails, I would try the hair dryer on a different GFCI. You already know it works on a regular outlet.

Last but not least, go buy DW another hair dryer. It's possible that the circuitry in the hair dryer is just not compatible with GFCI, but by that time you will have at least narrowed down all of the possibilities. We have one of those types of dryers in the stick house, plugged directly into a GFCI in the bathroom and it works fine. You would be surprised how little leakage it takes to trip a GFCI outlet. I have had to replace entire wiring harnesses on equipment that worked just fine in a standard outlet. Interested to see what your fix turns out to be.

[f6bits]

I vote for reversed wiring. If it works downstream, it should work upstream.

[eds451]

After I posted this, I tested the dryer in the stick bathroom. The outlet next to the sink is DOWNSTREAM from a GFCI outlet. It works there. So I plugged in the dryer into the GFCI and no power. I am taking a WAG that something in the dryer plug has gone amiss. Anyway the DW has relented to getting a trailer only dryer. So, off to the stores to see which ones will work.
Appreciate everyone's thoughts. If I learn any more about this, I will pass it on.

[f6bits]

That's still suspicious. Even though another hair dryer may be a good replacement, I still suggest you get one of those outlet testers and check all your outlets, just to be on the safe side.

We already have a trailer-only dryer – just so we have less to pack for a trip.

[Bob Landry]

Originally Posted by f6bits

That's still suspicious. Even though another hair dryer may be a good replacement, I still suggest you get one of those outlet testers and check all your outlets, just to be on the safe side.

We already have a trailer-only dryer – just so we have less to pack for a trip.

He does need to check it with an outlet tester, but he still needs to verify that the voltage being fed to the GFCI is being fed into the line terminals and not the load terminals. How these things are wired will affect the operation downstream from it.