GFCI shared neutral

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figgy

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I have a 20amp circuit in bathroom coming into a GFCI receptacle. This protects another receptacle. From this receptacle I ran 12-2 wire to a 2 gang box for 2 switches controlling a combination exhaust fan/light unit in the shower. The light and fan are switched separately. I used 12-3 wire from the switches to the fan unit so the fan and light are sharing the neutral. I think this is why the GFCI is tripping when I turn on both light and fan?
What is the fix? Do I have to run a separate neutral all the way from the fan to the GFCI? Do I need to run another 12-2 romex? Or should it be working and is there another problem? Thanks
 

Reach4

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Is all of what you are talking about on the same 120 volt breaker?

From the output of the GFCI, you could split off the neutral but only for circuits that use that same hot that also went through the GFCI. You cannot share the neutral after the GFCI with anything using a different hot.
 

Stuff

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What you are describing is done all the time so should work. Verify that the 12/2 is attached to both load terminals on the gfci receptacle. More likely - check that the bare ground conductor isn't touching the neutral in the switch box or the fan/light unit.
 
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