johnmeyer
Master of the Pit
Mactress is correct on all his points. I was going to post, but didn't want to take the time. The GFI will work regardless of distance from the breaker box. You'll get a bigger voltage drop to the GFI, but that lower voltage will not matter at all because the GFI is only measuring the differential between current going in and coming back out of the load, and doesn't care about voltage. To reiterate: it is a device which measures current, not voltage, and therefore is indifferent to the incoming voltage. It has to work this way because, if you've ever put a voltmeter on the mains, you'll see the voltage from your utility company wander all over the place, based on your neighbors' usage at that moment. I've seen voltage at my house go as low as 115 and as high as 123 volts in the matter of a few seconds (I have a UPS at my main computer that has a voltage readout) and, during brownouts, have seen voltages as low as 90 volts. The GFI has to work through all of this.
And, there is zero difference between a 15A and a 20A circuit until, of course, the current limit is reached, and one will trip at a lower current than the other. If the 20A circuit is wired with larger wire, there will be a slightly smaller voltage drop at the load (your smoker) when a lot of current is being drawn, but that is the only difference and, as I just pointed out above, the voltage at the load doesn't affect the GFI operation, so wire gauge doesn't matter at all.
Since the person who recently posted is having problems with the MES tripping multiple GFI receptacles, the MES obviously does have a ground fault. I suspect that moisture has penetrated one of the boxes, or else there is some gunk or fat that has oozed into something and that gunk is causing a fault.
While it is probably not a lethal situation, I most definitely would not recommend leaving it as is, and the smoker should probably be fixed or replaced.
And, there is zero difference between a 15A and a 20A circuit until, of course, the current limit is reached, and one will trip at a lower current than the other. If the 20A circuit is wired with larger wire, there will be a slightly smaller voltage drop at the load (your smoker) when a lot of current is being drawn, but that is the only difference and, as I just pointed out above, the voltage at the load doesn't affect the GFI operation, so wire gauge doesn't matter at all.
Since the person who recently posted is having problems with the MES tripping multiple GFI receptacles, the MES obviously does have a ground fault. I suspect that moisture has penetrated one of the boxes, or else there is some gunk or fat that has oozed into something and that gunk is causing a fault.
While it is probably not a lethal situation, I most definitely would not recommend leaving it as is, and the smoker should probably be fixed or replaced.