240V GFCI Randomly Tripping
#1
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240V GFCI Randomly Tripping
We just moved into a house which has a spa installed. There is a 30 amp GFCI and a 20 amp GFCI feeding the hot tub. I tried turning the spa on today for the first time and after about 10 minutes the 30A tripped. Reset it, turned on only 1 pump, 30A tripped again after a couple minutes. Reset it again, but didn't turn on any pumps, and it tripped again after a couple minutes and then would trip immediately upon reset.
Long story short, we ended up totally disconnecting the 2 hot lines at the hot tub end. Same problem, sometimes it would trip right away and sometimes after a couple minutes. It seems to hold just fine if we disconnect the 2 hot lines from the GFCI itself but I am going to do a more thorough test of that today.
The wiring in the disconnect panel looks ok. The neutral from the spa is going to the neutral terminal on the GFCI, and then the neutral from the GFCI is going to the neutral bar in the panel.
Any ideas? Suggestions on next steps to diagnose? It's a pretty short run to the spa (maybe 20 feet).
I've attached a couple photos from inside the panel.
30A is on the left.
Long story short, we ended up totally disconnecting the 2 hot lines at the hot tub end. Same problem, sometimes it would trip right away and sometimes after a couple minutes. It seems to hold just fine if we disconnect the 2 hot lines from the GFCI itself but I am going to do a more thorough test of that today.
The wiring in the disconnect panel looks ok. The neutral from the spa is going to the neutral terminal on the GFCI, and then the neutral from the GFCI is going to the neutral bar in the panel.
Any ideas? Suggestions on next steps to diagnose? It's a pretty short run to the spa (maybe 20 feet).
I've attached a couple photos from inside the panel.
30A is on the left.
#6
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The GFCI was powered, the hot wires going from the GFCI to the spa were disconnected. We disconnected neutral going to the spa as well and it's still tripping.
To be clear: The breaker is powered, but the neutral and hot wires that go to the spa have been disconnected at the breaker. It trips within an hour.
To be clear: The breaker is powered, but the neutral and hot wires that go to the spa have been disconnected at the breaker. It trips within an hour.
#7
To be clear: The breaker is powered, but the neutral and hot wires that go to the spa have been disconnected at the breaker. It trips within an hour.
That pretty obviously a defective breaker and extremely rare.
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Yeah I figured as much but wanted to double check in case I wasn't aware of any other possible issues. I've ordered a new one, hope it works! Thanks