oddly behaving circuit

[Barbara Chevalier]

Everytime I unplug anything on this one circuit it trips the GFI. Was going one for months. Now suddenly the GFI is humming. The circuit is not overloaded. Any thoughts?

[Pat L.]

If its in an old narrow metal outlet box the GFI screws may be shorting out against the metal walls. We change out all the boxes & wrap the outlet screws with tape.

However, we did have a new 15amp GFI fail & start to smoke in a new build. The GFI was bad.

But if it what's plugged into it draws between 15 and 20A & it's on a 15amp breaker with 14/2 wiring it may overload the outlet and cause it to heat up. But plenty of other things will be happening... the appliance power cord will overheat and the short on the appliance will doubtlessly be getting quite hot as well.