50 amp gfci spa panel

keeps tripping
i ran 8 guage 40 amp wire to my outdoor spa its a 240v unit
the breaker on the spa panel is a 50 amp gfci
icouldnt find a 40 amp but i still have the 40 amp breaker in the main panel
anyway the breaker is fine when it s conected to the house but the spa isnt hooked up
it doenst short or anything like that. but when you hook up the spa to it it trips the breaker instantly. i had it hooked up correctly as the neutral o nthe neutral lug on the gfci breaker and the ground on the ground bar and thats when it kept tripping.
I opened up the control panel in the spa itself and saw that the white wire i though was the neutral was actually just bolted to the metal frame of the spa. and the green wire goes into a wiring harness. So i switched the green and white in the gfci box and now it doesnt trip. I got this spa for free and some of the screws on the spa control panel were missing so its been opened. is there a way to see if this is safe this way? my ground and neutral are connected at the main disconnect.

how can i test this.

 

What kind of wire did you run from the main panel to the outdoor panel? How is this wire run?

Let's start there.

 

its an 8-3 for outdoor wiring, I ran it along the basement ceiling in a 2inch pvc pip and then out the ciderblocks right below where the spa panel is. its in pvc on the outside as well. It goes into the spa gfci and is covered entirely. Then from the spa box to the spa is the cable the spa came with which looks about like an 8 guage with 4 wires all insulated
red black green and white. none are bare as i would expect the ground to be. from the spa to the gfci panel is all enclosed in 2 inch pvc. I have 1 section where it goes into the gfci box that isnt covered yet as i ran out of pvc but i will fix that when i go to the hardware store next.
thats the setup. when i push the test button on the gfci it does shut the breaker off.
also there is a gfci breaker on the actual spa where you set the timer control.

 

also the wire from the house panel is on a 40 amp normal breaker.

 

The 8-3 you ran is not allowed for the portion of the run that is outside your house. If it were all in the wall it would be fine, but since it runs in PVC outside the house it is no good. You need individual conductors for this portion. You also should not use PVC conduit indoors. it should only be used outdoors. The outdoor wiring is not allowed to have a bare ground wire.

I hope that when you ran the individual conductors to the spa from the spa panel that you did so AFTER the PVC glue had completely dried. You will need to remove the wires to add the last section of PVC. PVC glue eats through and damages the insulation of wire, so if you added glue with the wires installed, then you will need to remove and throw away the wire, replacing it with new wire.

You need to fix the wiring at the spa. The white should not be used as a ground. Nor should the green be a neutral. Contact the spa manufacturer and get a wiring diagram for the spa, or contact an electrician to have this done properly.

I suggest that you do hire an electrician. Pools and spas have very strict wiring requirements that you don;t want to get wrong. Electricity can and does kill people.

 

I need someone to recommend an electrician that wont scam me. I had one guy out a few months ago that looked at the house and wanted 4300 to rewire it. He said it was the worst hed ever seen. I didnt know much about electric then so i jsut beleived him. Now that i have gone over the wiring throughout the house and replaced a main panel and a subpanel i see that the electic in this house is not bad at all. That guy was a scammer. I have no idea who to call to get this fixed. I dont imagine it sohuld cost all that much to get this fixed but again im not certain who to call or how much to pay. The spa Manufacturer is blue ridge spas. I cant seem to find any website for them or phone number to call. Since there is a GFCI in the spa itself is it safe or not? What does that GFCI protect?

 

i havent glued any of the pvc yet as i havent finished the install. I learned a while ago that it is best to make sure everything is finished before you make it permanent so im safe there. Can i just get 8 guage individually insulated wires and splice the 8 guage in the house to it and then run the individual wires through to the outside? Or do i need to scrap the 25ft of 8guage in the house to?

 

Is it mroe expensive to have an electrician out on a saturday?
I was really hoping to use this spa this weekend.

I beleive there is a wiring diagram on the back of the spa internal panel. Im going to check that out when i get home. I want to be safe about this so until im sure it works im not going to use it. Is there a way to test with my voltmeter whether or not the ground is being used as the return path? I would like to see whether the ground or the neutral wire is being used and I think that would help me diagnose the problem as well. Can anyone recommend a good electrician in the Akron OH area?

 

Give up on this weekend.

The way to find an electrician is to ask friends and neighbors who they have used. Next, you get at least three estimates. If something seems wrong with the estimates you then get more. Make sure that the estimates are all specifying the same work to be done, or that you know why one electrician might want to do more or less work than another.

Finally, have the job inspected when you are done.

 

You also should not use PVC conduit indoors. it should only be used outdoors.

Racecraft

am curious about this comment why would you not use pvc conduit indoors ?