Heater tripping GFCI breaker

[walt7474]

So...New electrical work has been finished for a week now. About once a day the GFCI breaker was tripping for the heater circuit. The heater is a Hayward heat pump on a dedicated 240 volt 20 amp circuit. I called pool builder to ask them about it and they said to call the electrician. Called electrician and he came out and replaced the GFCI circuit with a non-GFCI breaker. It's been running a few days now and hasn't tripped the breaker. Is it safe to run heater on a non-GFCI protected circuit?

 

[ps0303]

What does the electrician say about it? I would think you should have a GFCI circuit for it but you need to consult with the codes and the electrician. Did he say why he swapped it out for a non GFCI?

 

[walt7474]

He said sometimes the GFCI breakers are too sensitive for something that has a larger startup load.

I thought I read somewhere that a GFCI is not required if the heater is hard wired. True??


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[dmanb2b]

There is likely a ground fault that should be addressed. Whether it's required is determined by your local code/electrical inspector, not something you may have read somewhere In general I would think a GFCI is needed on equipment that touches pool water, but then again, I'm not an electrician so can't tell you for sure.

 

[danpik]

He said sometimes the GFCI breakers are too sensitive for something that has a larger startup load.

You need a better electrician. GFCI's do not fault on over current. As was mentioned there is a current leak somewhere

I thought I read somewhere that a GFCI is not required if the heater is hard wired. True??

Ask your inspector who approved the instalation. I do not have my code book here at home to check.

 

[swimcmp]

Not familiar with the Hayward heat pumps but on Pentair units they require a 50 amp breaker the load at startup is around 42 to 45 amps then drops off to 35 amps for the compressor. Verify that a 20 amp breaker is large enough to handle the startup load.