GFCI tripping

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svoelkel

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I replaced a working ceiling fan in our bedroom with a new fan. Everything was working fine up to then. The circuit is on a GFCI in the panel. When I attach to ground from the fan to the ground line on the circuit it trips the GFCI and it can not be reset. As soon as I disconnect the ground, the GFCI can be reset the fan and lights work fine. What would cause this other than that there is a short in the new fan? There was no problem with the circuit while the previous fan was installed (and grounded). Finally, the fan only has a remote control, no pull chains, and is 12 feet above the floor so I assume it is safe to operate without the ground line connected. Correct? Thanks in advance for explanations!
 
Sounds like a defective fan. Return it. I would not leave the ground off just so the GFCI does not trip. You have a problem that needs to be resolved.
 
It could be that the leakage current of the fan and other appliances on the circuit add to more than the 5 mA budget of the GFCI, and so some other appliance is doing most of the leaking and the fan just pushes the total leakage over the threshold.

Or the GFCI could be oversensitive but this is probably a long shot.

You can check the leakage current in the fan ground lead with a VOM but it takes some explaining.
 
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