Spa GFCI tripping after about 1.5 hours of running fine

[johne3819]

Hi all, thanks ahead of time.

I just installed a spa with my uncle (a certified electrician's) help. I ran all the wiring, filled the spa and reset the GFCI in the service panel. Everything lit up, the control panel went through it's power on tests and started running. I ran for about 2 hours, heating the water from ~65 to 80 degrees then it tripped the GFCI breaker. I could not reset it. I waited 5 minutes and tried still nothing, just instant trip. I checked all my wires to make sure something hadn't loosened up. all seemed tight but I unhooked and reconnected the wires in the spa control panel. Then I could reset the breaker and it turned on again.

It ran for another 1.5-2 hours and tripped again. Temp raised to about 95 . This time I just waited a bit longer and then I was about to reset the breaker and start it again.

It's done this for several times now, it seems to last about 1.5-2 hours each time before it trips. My uncle has no idea what it can be. I ran a separate GFCI outlet off a separate breaker in the service box and it keeps working through all the issues.

Any help is appreciated!

 

[JoeGolan]

Could just be a bad breaker

 

[Jimrahbe]

J,

Welcome to TFP... A Great resource for all GFCI tripping Spa owners...

I would guess the problem is in the heater core once it gets hot.

I would disconnect the power to the heater and see if the problem continues or not..

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.

 

[johne3819]

Could just be a bad breaker

Thanks Joe. That is all I can figure too. After running for a while it gets hot or whatever and trips. I would bet the a non gfci would be doing the same thing

 

[JoeGolan]

Your uncle should have an amp probe to measure current.... it could be that something is binding after a while causing a higher than normal current consumption too. A measurement initially and a second one after an hour of operator should reveal a difference or reading if that was the case.

 

[johne3819]

Thanks for the tip Joe. I'll ask him about that.

It ran all night last night. I checked around 1130 pm and it was running. Went back out and it was still running but the circulation pump wasn't on. Came back at 3 and the circulation pump was running and all seemed fine

Woke up to it on and circulating. Ran to the store and came back to a tripped circuit.

I think you may be on to something...

 

[johne3819]

Your uncle should have an amp probe to measure current.... it could be that something is binding after a while causing a higher than normal current consumptiontoo. A measurement initially and a second one after an hour of operator should reveal a difference or reading if that was the case.

UPDATE:

All day, it did the 1.5-2 hour thing where it trips the breaker, I wait 20 minutes and can reset, any attempt before then leads to instant trip. After we took a dip this evening, it turned off itself, went into normal mode (circulation on/off as needed, heater going on and off, filter on) and has now been running about 7 hours.

I put the spa in 'service mode' which says it allows quick (30 minute or less) maintenance tasks. while in this 'Off' mode as it also referred, the GFCI tripped. I REALLY think the GFCI is just a bad one. I'm calling the manufacturer tomorrow.

Thanks

 

[Bigdog43]

Ugh, I went round and round with a problem similar to this early this season. Swapping out the breaker is certainly an easy thing to try, but if I was a betting man, I would bet there is something else going on that is causing the problem. I would try unplugging things from the circuit board and through trial and error, try to figure out what is causing it to trip. For instance, if you unplug the heater and it doesn't trip anymore, there's your problem. It could be the ozonator or the pumps or whatever.

My money is on the heater because that seems to be a common problem. If this is a new spa, maybe they skimped and installed a refurbished heating element or something.

Just curious, what's the model of your spa pack?

 

[johne3819]

Does in.k300 match to a spa pack?

 

[Bigdog43]

Looks like that is your topside control panel.

If you take off the sidewall of your spa, you should be able to see all the internal components. The pump(s), the ozonator, the spapack, etc. The spa pack is generally encased in plastic and has a silver tube at the bottom which is the heater. You should be able to take the cover off the spa pack and see the circuit board, which will have connections going out to all of the various components. Follow the cable back to the component you want to test and unplug it, as I said, I'd start with the heater. Your hot tub won't heat, but if it doesn't trip then you've identified your problem. If it does, you can try the same test on other components.

If you unplug everything and it still trips, then yeah it could be the breaker or even the circuit board itself. I would go through this testing before contacting the manufacturer because they will have you replace the breaker first and that might not be the issue. However, even if it wasn't the original problem, all of this tripping can cause the breaker to go bad and there be two problems in the mix now...

Let me know what happens...