Hello, All....Seeking some suggestions. Last week, I connected a hot tub for a guy who had it given to him by a neighbor. It had supposedly had nearly all electrical parts replaced at some time and looked to be in good shape.
My installation consisted of installing a new 100A sub-panel, reusing the 2P50 amp GFI breaker in it, reusing the same piece of cable, same disconnect, everything. The only material (aside from the sub panel) that I supplied was some PVC and liquid-tight conduit between the disconnect and the tub itself. Connections were typical: L1, L2, N and G on very good-looking lugs.
Now the guy says that the GFI breaker is tripping. I've checked it with a Wiggy and can force the GFI to trip every time. I can also run the tub fine, but when the heat comes on, the breaker trips on it's own. I've measured for resistance from both legs of the heating element to ground and they test clean, as in no resistance to ground. There is obviously plenty of control wiring that uses the neutral, but again, nothing seems to be out of order.
The guy is a friend, so he's not blaming me for the installation part. The problem is that we really don't know for sure if the tub was in good working order, though the former owner says it was. There's no doubt that the reused breaker could be faulty, but it holds just fine until the heat kicks in. I've seen this dozens of times before.
Is there something that any of you can think of that I might be missing?
