Following up, I took a look at the breaker and its a quad - 15/20/20/15. My plan is to take the 20 feeds to power the wifi timer, then run both loads (heater, pump) off of it as per the diagram above. I'll then leave the 15's switched off.
Suriaelec Wiring
- Thread starter dpala
- Start date
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- automated pool timer wifi
@1poolman1
You have a much wider pool background than I have, so just curious.. What would be your guess as to the % of pools that still do not have GFCI breakers for the pumps? My guess is more than 50%. I suspect most all new pools have GFCI breakers, but I doubt many of the older pools do not.
No doubt they should be GFCI, but.....
Thanks,
Jim R.
You have a much wider pool background than I have, so just curious.. What would be your guess as to the % of pools that still do not have GFCI breakers for the pumps? My guess is more than 50%. I suspect most all new pools have GFCI breakers, but I doubt many of the older pools do not.
No doubt they should be GFCI, but.....
Thanks,
Jim R.
- Jul 21, 2013
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- 35000
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The 2008 revision of the NEC required GFCI CBs for pool pumps. It can take a few years for a jurisdiction to adopt a new NEC version.
So all pools built before 2008 likely did not have GFCI and many built for a few years after.
So all pools built before 2008 likely did not have GFCI and many built for a few years after.
Previous owner put the pool in around 2005. I went out and got a GFCI 20A breaker, will replace the setup soon.
At least 75% of the ones I see don't have them, even on new pump installations like the one I had to "fix" last week. Installer put in a new pump and time clocks, messed up the wiring and couldn't get the pump to run. He didn't install one, I did.
Many that do are wired wrong. They trip if the single breaker in the main panel tries to feed the equipment pad that many times has a 120v and a 240v load. Leave off the neutral on the GFCB (don't hook it to the neutral buss) and most of the time they won't trip with an unbalanced load. Found that out trying to solve an electrical issue. They won't trip when the test button is pushed and you also get zero ground-fault protection.
Many times I'm working on something that doesn't require me to install one, but I will always mention it in the bill they receive if it is missing. If it is something (pump, motor, heater, etc.) that code requires, they either allow me to bring it up to code, even if that means a new subpanel at the equipment, or call someone else. Don't want anyone getting hurt because of me, even if the chance is small.
Looking at the info on the Surailec device, I think their marketing department had more sway than the techinical departement in giving wiring examples.. They show a number of wiring configurations that make it look really versatile, but it don’t really add value. I won’t say deceptive, but in the end it’s a single DPST relay, so the pictures making it look like there is some sort of independent control of 2 devices are misleading. The only valid configurations IMO are switching a single 240V circuit (which can have multiple devices downstream), or switching 2 separate 120V circuits at the same time (e.g. devices that are required by code to be on dedicated circuits, which comes up at times). OP’s use is the first:
- Connect L and COM1 to one leg of the 240V line input
- Connect N and COM2 to the other leg of the 240V line input
- Connect one load wire from both the pump and heater NO1
- Connect the other load wire from both the pump and heater to NO2
- Profit!
While there may be some cases where it’s allowable to switch only one leg of a 240V circuit (single pole thermostats can be used in some places where a disconnect breaker is in the same room), it’s an extremely bad idea around the pool even if the disconnect breaker is there. Way too much risk of someone untrained going to move something disconnect a cable to get it out of the way, etc. When you switch off the hot leg of a 120V circuit and touch the wires (which you shouldn’t do, but...) the live leg is the neutral, which isn’t 0 danger but much less. When you switch one leg of a 240V circuit and touch the wires, one of those wires is 120V to ground...that you’re probably bridging to with your body...
If you need 2 separate 240V circuits (e.g. for devices that can’t share one), then you'd want to use 2 of these DPST controllers.
- Connect L and COM1 to one leg of the 240V line input
- Connect N and COM2 to the other leg of the 240V line input
- Connect one load wire from both the pump and heater NO1
- Connect the other load wire from both the pump and heater to NO2
- Profit!
While there may be some cases where it’s allowable to switch only one leg of a 240V circuit (single pole thermostats can be used in some places where a disconnect breaker is in the same room), it’s an extremely bad idea around the pool even if the disconnect breaker is there. Way too much risk of someone untrained going to move something disconnect a cable to get it out of the way, etc. When you switch off the hot leg of a 120V circuit and touch the wires (which you shouldn’t do, but...) the live leg is the neutral, which isn’t 0 danger but much less. When you switch one leg of a 240V circuit and touch the wires, one of those wires is 120V to ground...that you’re probably bridging to with your body...
If you need 2 separate 240V circuits (e.g. for devices that can’t share one), then you'd want to use 2 of these DPST controllers.
