ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Ho tub service call

Got one coming Friday- owner had circuit run and h.depot 50a gfi disco installed by someone else.He called me today after tub installers had been there;When the unit was energized it quick tripped the bkr.(several attempts)One of the crew must have a little elec. insight; owner said the guy found "something" wrong in the main(?)panel, and changed "something' AND drove ground rod at disco.Net result was delayed trip.I had them trip on leaky heaters; anyone shed any light on potential problems. What are the odds it's a bad gfi-disco?

Five will get you ten its a fault in the tub. Is the breaker tripping on overload or gound fault? I dont know what they thought driving a ground rod was going to do.

I was expecting something else with the topic being "HO TUB"

Electricman 2-short answer- I don't know-the man said before the installer tinkered with the circuit that it tripped immediately-after that it would hold for 20-30 min. before tripping-the tub is new-could be defective though-besides the heater, any thoughts on what else may be doing this?

Scott-yeah, I found the hard way one can't edit topic name.

derater

my first assessment would be N-G confusion/ bonding beyond the gfi protection

next would be to start disconnecting one item at a time, heaters can be two units, motors can be multiple

good luck

~S~

Put a clamp-on ammeter on the supply conductor to determine if tripping is overload or not. If not what Sparky said may apply, bonding between neutral and EGC downstream of GFCI.

I found a problem with GFCIs tripping is often water in the equipment. It goes away when the equipment dries out.

Thanks for the replies all;Elec. 2; good bet;
amped out at 18a +/- p/ leg; noodle at the line out of main a bit loose-but still tripped at 15 min. or so;then the HO starts playing with the controls, pushes the lights
button and the pump starts,(brand new unit)
so I tell him I think he has issues with the maker.Clearly something wrong in the controls; I'll post it if I hear what the problem was.