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Re: Fixing my Spa

To: Mike Rambour <mikey@b2systems.com>
Subject: Re: Fixing my Spa
From: Trevor Boicey <tboicey@brit.ca>
Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 00:05:39 -0400
Mike Rambour wrote:
> 
>   I have a HotSprings spa, 110Volt that is about 8 to 10 years old cant 
> remember exactly when I bought it.
 >
>    This weekend it started popping the circuit breaker after running the 
> jets approximately 20 seconds, it is on a GFCI circuit breaker. 

   If you have a 110V spa, it almost always is designed so that the 
heater and pump are never on at the same time... since that is more than 
15A... the heater is usually made as big as possible for the circuit, 
like 1200-1500W. I have a 110V/20A spa myself, the heater is 1800W, 
leaving just enough to run the pump on low. If you switch the pump onto 
high for the jets, the heater goes off.

   So... this to me makes it unlikely that the GFCI is tripping because 
of the sudden current draw of the pump, the heater actually draws more 
usually.

   My very limited experience with GFCIs that fail is that they just 
don't trip anymore. The test button is "successful" at showing the 
failure, the circuit works but never trips...

   ...which leads me to suspect you actually have a ground fault 
situation. The jet pump or wiring sounds like it is leaking to ground 
when engaged. It doesn't take much.

   Since it's a hot tub, there is a lot of water, so it could be a lot 
of things that all come down to water ingress somewhere. Could be water 
in a forbidden area of the pump, could be in the switchwork, could be in 
the thermostat, etc. A lot of the stuff is double insulated but it can 
happen.

   I assume from the age that it's an air switch that controls the jets, 
but if not, it could be that switch as well.

   Remember, any tiny path for current to get to ground from the hot 
wire will trip the GFCI, it doesn't take much. A junction box with a 
layer of wet grime is more than enough to leak current to all other 
connections in the junction box.






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