Newbie0706
New User
- Location
- Arizona
- Occupation
- Pilot
Hey all,
My waterfall pump trips after 5-10 minutes.
Here’s the backstory:
Everything has worked perfectly fine up until we got new A/C units this winter. The contractor had to replace a few of the breakers when installing. As soon as the installers left I noticed the pump breaker was tripped so turned it back on. The 2-pole 20AMP breaker does not trip until you use either of the three way switches to turn the pump on. This breaker tripped within 2 minutes of turning it on. I noticed one of the wires coming out of the breaker was completely loose and tightened it up. Now, it’s good for a bit longer but will still trip.
I found an arc mark on the bottom of the electrical box where the conduit for the pool equipment comes in. My suspicion was that while the A/C guys were in the box maybe they nicked the wire. That doesn’t make much sense though because as soon as the breaker is hot and thus the wire… if it was touching the metal conduit, it’d ARC and trip anyway before I even turn the switch on; not to mention the wire looks good and no damage. We also did a continuity test on the conduit and the ends of both wires which was also good.
I was getting ready to dig up the conduit so I can get to a fitting and pull it apart to look a little further down the wire and found another burn mark. This one is 3’ below the panel.
The two air handler breakers are 2-pole and they used the neutral from the equipment and put that under one of the breaker lugs to make it 110 (or so that’s sort of how it was explained and legal).
Can my panel be getting a charge from somewhere and we’re just seeing it come out of the metal conduit at these spots? Why would this only happen when the waterfall pump is on? Any help is greatly appreciated.
My waterfall pump trips after 5-10 minutes.
Here’s the backstory:
Everything has worked perfectly fine up until we got new A/C units this winter. The contractor had to replace a few of the breakers when installing. As soon as the installers left I noticed the pump breaker was tripped so turned it back on. The 2-pole 20AMP breaker does not trip until you use either of the three way switches to turn the pump on. This breaker tripped within 2 minutes of turning it on. I noticed one of the wires coming out of the breaker was completely loose and tightened it up. Now, it’s good for a bit longer but will still trip.
I found an arc mark on the bottom of the electrical box where the conduit for the pool equipment comes in. My suspicion was that while the A/C guys were in the box maybe they nicked the wire. That doesn’t make much sense though because as soon as the breaker is hot and thus the wire… if it was touching the metal conduit, it’d ARC and trip anyway before I even turn the switch on; not to mention the wire looks good and no damage. We also did a continuity test on the conduit and the ends of both wires which was also good.
I was getting ready to dig up the conduit so I can get to a fitting and pull it apart to look a little further down the wire and found another burn mark. This one is 3’ below the panel.
The two air handler breakers are 2-pole and they used the neutral from the equipment and put that under one of the breaker lugs to make it 110 (or so that’s sort of how it was explained and legal).
Can my panel be getting a charge from somewhere and we’re just seeing it come out of the metal conduit at these spots? Why would this only happen when the waterfall pump is on? Any help is greatly appreciated.
