Sump Pump GFCI?

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We have sump pumps installed in meter and valve vaults throughout our system. The GFCI protection for these is constantly tripping.
I can not find a requirement for these to be GFCI protected. Am I missing something?
 

Dennis Alwon

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Chapel Hill, NC
Occupation
Retired Electrical Contractor
Art. 210.8 tells us areas that the gfci is required. The only place that may fit it is indoor wet locations-- are these vaults dry or are they considered outdoors??? Might be an authority having jurisdiction call and my guess is they are going to want gfci on it. If the gfci's are tripping it generally means a problem with the pumps.
 

mopowr steve

Senior Member
Location
NW Ohio
Occupation
Electrical contractor
Most of the sump pump instructions also call for sumps to be on GFCI protection.
Also is the manner in which you've put a GFCI in the vault the problem due to excessive condensation within/around say a bell box with weatherproof cover which will lead to problems?
Inductive kickback can also be a problem too.
 

tom baker

First Chief Moderator
Staff member
Consider why the GFCI is tripping. Perhaps the motor is bad. I have a lot of vaults with sump pumps all on GFCIs and they don't trip.
One time there was a submersible water sample pump, 1/3 hp, that tripped the GFCI. Bad GFCI, the mechanic said. They had spliced the cord, poor splice, water got into the motor and it was a dead short to ground.
So perhaps the GFCI is doing its job.
Also, when I power a vault, there will be a pump, light and fan all on a GFCI circuit breaker. Never an nuisance trips and out here in Seattle area our vaults are always damp.
 
Moisture is the issue

Moisture is the issue

We are attempting to change the way our mechanical brothers do things. They insist on using cheap pumps, the pumps can't keep up with load and we get either submerged outlets or enough moisture to trip the device. I am trying to find a way to use 210.8B (4) Exception 1, to get these things on an isolated circuit, (no lights or fans as they are not the problem). We can change our entry procedures to require that the circuit is opened before an entry.
If this doesn't work out we move on to 240v pumps and fight that battle.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Not having a cord and plug would allow you to omit GFCI protection in many cases even if it is 120 volts. The protection is not NEC required for the pump, it is required for the 15 or 20 amp 120 volt receptacle you are plugging into - in most instances.
 

Bjenks

Senior Member
Location
East Coast of FL
Is this on a dedicated circuit? Eaton and Sq D make a pretty good GFCI breaker instead of a receptacle.
Make sure you are not using some type of Arc Fault/GFCI as that could cause problems.
Yes, the very nature of a sump pump is the thought there might be water so you need GFCI protection.
 
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kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Yes, the very nature of a sump pump is the thought there might be water so you need GFCI protection.
I disagree. The very nature of a sump pump does introduce the fact there might be water, but that only kicks in GFCI protection requirements for 15/20 amp 125 volt receptacles in the vicinity, the pump itself doesn't require GFCI protection unless maybe instructions would call for it. If it were not cord and plug connected GFCI would not be required.

There are many pumps with a 15 or 20 amp 120 volt cord cap installed on them - but that makes GFCI required because there will be a receptacle that otherwise requires GFCI in the vicinity. Few code cycles ago those pumps were allowed to have a dedicated non GFCI protected receptacle - because the intent wasn't that the pump itself needed GFCI, but users don't care, if there is a receptacle there they use it even if it was supposed to be dedicated to a specific piece of equipment so they changed the code to have no exceptions for dedicated equipment receptacles.
 

Cow

Senior Member
Location
Eastern Oregon
Occupation
Electrician
We are attempting to change the way our mechanical brothers do things. They insist on using cheap pumps, the pumps can't keep up with load and we get either submerged outlets or enough moisture to trip the device. I am trying to find a way to use 210.8B (4) Exception 1, to get these things on an isolated circuit, (no lights or fans as they are not the problem). We can change our entry procedures to require that the circuit is opened before an entry.
If this doesn't work out we move on to 240v pumps and fight that battle.

So you can spend money on 240v pumps and associated rewiring, but you can't buy a decent 120v pump to try?
 
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