220 Volt, 60Amp GFCI Breaker Kicking out.?
I have a 220Volt, 60Amp GFCI breaker in my 200Amp main service panel The breaker is for my Hot Tub.
Everything has worked great for the past 5 years. In the past two weeks the breaker has been kicking out everytime I turn the Tub on. No shorts etc can be found in the tub or wiring. Did find Voltage to the main panel is 116.9Volts on one leg and 121.1Volts on the other leg. Is this voltage difference causing my problem?? Thanks
Breakers do get old and cranky, and replacing it may be the solution. BUT there is a better test to do first, though some background first will make it clearer.
HOWEVER, don’t try swapping the breaker unless you are very comfortable mucking about in breaker panels; it is much too easy to fry yourself.
GFCIs work by measuring the difference in CURRENT on the two legs; any difference means current going out one wire is not all coming in the other, ie, current is leaking to ground somewhere. They do this directly, basically having something kinda like a transformer that only reads the difference in current. I am sure wikipedia has an article on this.
My point is that voltage differences on the legs are irrelevant.
UNLESS, that is, the system uses 120V heaters with the neutral grounded, in which case the currents will be different and there will be what looks like current leakage to ground. I seriously doubt that your system is built this way [and anyone building one that way should be beaten with clubs, but there are idiots out there], but look for it when you go poking around in there as it could be the source of your problem.
For 60A at 220V I doubt that is all going to the pump motor, which probably means you have electric heaters.
Heaters are the first place to look for a ground fault. Typically they have a resistance wire down the center [it might be coiled], a layer of ceramic insulation, then a stainless outer sheath. A tiny bit of moisture in the ceramic insulation will leak current.
Since I doubt that all 13 kW is going to one heater cartridge or element, the thing to do is disconnect some of the heaters [but not all] and then try the breaker. If it pops, one of the heaters you had connected is leaking. If it does not, one of the ones not connected is the problem. Reconnect heaters and try the breaker until you can determine which heater is bad and then replace that heater.
You may have 10 mA leaking with 220V driving that. V = IR —> R = V/I = 220/.01 = 22k ohms, which can be hard to find. So trying to find the bad one with an ohm meter is, in my experience, the hard way to do it. Use the GFCI as what it really is, a sensor to find very small current leakages.
It is possible, though in my experience unlikely, that several heaters are each leaking a tiny current, not enough to pop the GFCI individually, but in total enough, in which case finding the bad ‘one’ won’t work. BUt in my experience it is usually one heater.
Tesla Tornado Tube Christmas Tree
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