Hot Tub tripping breaker

Recently I keep tripping the hot tub breaker located on my main panel. My Hot tub is wired to a GFI with a 50 amp breaker near the tub, then this is wired to a 50 amp breaker on my main panel. The breaker on my main panel trips for no reason. It was fine for 6 months, then one day it tripped. Then tripped again a few days later. Went a week then tripped. So it might trip every few days or so for no reason. It is a dedicated 240 volt 50 amp circuit. The GFI breaker near the tub never trips. So I figure it isn't anything to do with the tub or it would trip the first 50 amp breaker. Is this correct? Are breakers sometimes bad ? The panel is 6 months old so the breakers are new. It is a square D panel. I am obviously not an electrician. Any ideas?

Brian

 

Brian first thing I would do is disconnect the load from the panel 50 amp circuit breaker. So trip out the hot tub gfci with the test button. this will isolate the tub equipment from influencing the circuit. See now if the breaker in the panel trips over time. The fact that the gfci does not trip doesnt necessarily mean everything is ok electrically at the hot tub equipment. Gfci's detect leakages to neutral or ground so if you have something shorting out or very large current inrushes the breaker will trip and not the gfci. See what happens when the spa is disconnected from the circuit. You might also check all connections with the power off of course to make sure they are sound and not touching metal. Was the hot tub a do it yourself project or installed by the factory?

 

It was installed by an electrician. If there was a big surge or a short wouldn't the 50 amp breaker on the GFCI trip though? Or does that breaker just trip when there is a ground fault? Is there any way that it could make the breaker on the panel trip without tripping it self?

Brian

 

Brian the gfci is not a 50 amp breaker it is rated for a 50 amp circuit. Same as you have 15 amp rated receptacles and 20 amp rated receptacles. My guess is you more than likely have a problem with the hot tub equipment. What model hot tub and manufacturer do you have? You might try cycling the pump or other accessories to see if one of them trips the breaker.

 

If you have two breakers on a circuit, and it sounds like you do, either one of them or both of them would trip on an overload. There is no guarantee that both would trip, or even that one would always trip before the other.