GFCI for pool protecton

[Eros]

My crew installed a 120v/20A dedicated circuit for a swimming pool. They ran #12 THHN black and green but oversized the neutral with a #10 THHN. The GFCI worked fine for 4-5 days but suddenly will not reset and work. The customer has run an extension chord to the pump and plugged it into a GFCI receptacle and the pump is running fine. I cant figure out what is going on and why the breaker style is not holding but the GFCI receptacle woks fine on the same equipment. Any ideas

 

[vincentvigil]

Bad breaker? Swap the loads in the panel with a different GFCI breaker.

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[Dennis Alwon]

How far is the distance from the pool pump to the panel? Are you certain the gfci that the owner plugged into is functioning properly? Why did they oversize the neutral

 

[Eros]

The distance is about 100'. The neutral is oversized only because the didn't have any #12 white on their truck (i know). This is the second breaker installed in the system. When i take the leads off the pool pump the GFCI breaker holds fine.

 

[kwired]

different sized neutral conductor may be a contributor to capacitive leakage (larger conductor is a larger capacitor plate)

you may have compromised insulation and some leakage current (nicked while installing maybe?)

you could have a pinched wire or other intermittent ground fault at the receptacle of the permanent install.

water in raceway (condensation would be expected to happen so this is normal) would help make either situation above worse, where the extension cord don't have that issue.

 

[FionaZuppa]

My crew installed a 120v/20A dedicated circuit for a swimming pool. They ran #12 THHN black and green but oversized the neutral with a #10 THHN. The GFCI worked fine for 4-5 days but suddenly will not reset and work. The customer has run an extension chord to the pump and plugged it into a GFCI receptacle and the pump is running fine. I cant figure out what is going on and why the breaker style is not holding but the GFCI receptacle woks fine on the same equipment. Any ideas

gfci recept or gfci breaker you installed? what types are they (the one that fails vs the one that works). will the problem gfci reset w/o a load?

 

[growler]

My crew installed a 120v/20A dedicated circuit for a swimming pool. They ran #12 THHN black and green but oversized the neutral with a #10 THHN. The GFCI worked fine for 4-5 days but suddenly will not reset and work. The customer has run an extension chord to the pump and plugged it into a GFCI receptacle and the pump is running fine. I cant figure out what is going on and why the breaker style is not holding but the GFCI receptacle works fine on the same equipment. Any ideas

I would test and reset the GFCI that homeowner is useing but it probably is good.

Then I think I would hook up my big demo hammer motor in place of the pump moter and see if the circuit will hold under a different load. A space heater would probably work just as well. Or if you have a megger you could meg the circuit.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

I still would question if the gfci receptacle is functioning. The older ones would work when line and load were reversed but that would not give gfci protection.

 

[growler]

I still would question if the gfci receptacle is functioning. The older ones would work when line and load were reversed but that would not give gfci protection.

You are right and it wouldn't be that much trouble just to replace with a new one. Most of us keep those stocked in the van.

The bottom line is you have to eliminate something. Until you do it's all just speculation.


I don't think those would trip with a plug in tester (old ones) when line and load were reversed. But I could be wrong.

 

[bluecollar84]

I would use normal breaker then hit faceless gfi 20amp that solved my problem


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[Dennis Alwon]

I would also check the work of your guys. If the pump worked on a good gfci receptacle then I suspect you may have a nick in the wire that eventually shorted to the motor casing.\

 

[JFletcher]

My guesses:

1) Bad breaker
2) Nick in the wire of the circuit which took the 4-5 days to get wet.

Get another GFCI breaker, replace. If it holds, it was the breaker, if not, it's in the wiring. You've eliminated the pump as a possible cause because it works on a GFCI receptacle (unless it is miswired/malfunctioning too).

The oversize neutral has zero to do with the circuit tripping unless there is a fault in the wire.

eta: a GFCI receptacle at the end of the circuit in question will not be susceptible to ground faults on the line side. Not really the best fix, but the pool pump would still be GFCI protected tho the branch circuit may be faulty.