2 GFCI's in series

[blueman]

My outdoor outlet circuit is run of of a basement circuit that is GFI protected.

I added a second GFI for the outside outlets with the hope that the outside one would trip first so that I woudn't have to go down to the basement if it tripped.

This worked OK on 2 out of my 3 outdoor receptacles. However, on one of the outlets, I find that both the outside and inside GFIs trip. Is there any way to avoid this or is it inevitable since both outlets sense the leakage current and trip independently?

Thanks

[toller]

The big question is "Why are they tripping so often as to be a problem?" I have 4 GFCI circuits, and they haven't tripped in years. (Yes, they work just fine thank you.)

You CAN fix it by putting the first GFCI as a pigtail off the hot, rather than running the hot through it. Of course, you will have to replace all the other basement outlets with pigtailed GFCIs also. That is an expensive solution, but will work. It is obviously necessary to pigtail the neutrals also.

You can TRY to fix it by swapping the two GFCIs. Just maybe the first one is more sensitive and will trip by itself if moved to the second position.

[blueman]

They only trigger because I am testing them :)

[Chris Lewis]

According to toller :

It may be feasible to run another line from the panel or the GFCI "line side" to power the outdoor GFCI. So you'd have them all protected without having to GFCI each of the basement downstreams.

Whether the upstream or downstream or _both_ of series-wired GFCIs trip is simply a matter of tolerances and luck. Furthermore, it may be different next time. Only reliable way to have only the outdoor one go for outdoor faults is by taking it out of series with the indoor GFCI.

[toller]

The big question is "Why are they tripping so often as to be a problem?" I have 4 GFCI circuits, and they haven't tripped in years. (Yes, they work just fine thank you.)

You CAN fix it by putting the first GFCI as a pigtail off the hot, rather than running the hot through it. Of course, you will have to replace all the other basement outlets with pigtailed GFCIs also. That is an expensive solution, but will work. It is obviously necessary to pigtail the neutrals also.

You can TRY to fix it by swapping the two GFCIs. Just maybe the first one is more sensitive and will trip by itself if moved to the second position.

[toller]

The big question is "Why are they tripping so often as to be a problem?" I have 4 GFCI circuits, and they haven't tripped in years. (Yes, they work just fine thank you.)

You CAN fix it by putting the first GFCI as a pigtail off the hot, rather than running the hot through it. Of course, you will have to replace all the other basement outlets with pigtailed GFCIs also. That is an expensive solution, but will work. It is obviously necessary to pigtail the neutrals also.

You can TRY to fix it by swapping the two GFCIs. Just maybe the first one is more sensitive and will trip by itself if moved to the second position.

[toller]

The big question is "Why are they tripping so often as to be a problem?" I have 4 GFCI circuits, and they haven't tripped in years. (Yes, they work just fine thank you.)

You CAN fix it by putting the first GFCI as a pigtail off the hot, rather than running the hot through it. Of course, you will have to replace all the other basement outlets with pigtailed GFCIs also. That is an expensive solution, but will work. It is obviously necessary to pigtail the neutrals also.

You can TRY to fix it by swapping the two GFCIs. Just maybe the first one is more sensitive and will trip by itself if moved to the second position.