MattS87
Senior Member
- Location
- Yakima, WA
I recently installed a hot tub circuit for my neighbor running a 40A breaker and #8 wire from the main panel to a 50A spa panel and #8 wire in PVC to his new hot tub. After energizing the circuit and verifying everything worked I walked away. The next day he tells me the GFCI breaker tripped and won't reset. I had to work but had him do some simple checks and he ended up replacing the breaker, putting in an exact replacement which worked.
9 days later he tells me the same problem has happened. This time I wanted to troubleshoot to look for installation problems. I rechecked all the wiring, verified voltages from the main panel, and so forth. I was able to get the breaker to reset, but only after I disconnected the line side neutral of the breaker (internal wire). However, when checking voltage in the spa panel i found this:
1) 240V line to line-both line side and load side of GFCI
2) 120v line to neutral and line to ground on the line side of the breaker
3) 38V L1 to neutral on breaker
4) 208V L2 to neutral on breaker
5) 85V ground to neutral on breaker
Now, i wasn't involved in the replacement of the first breaker but it sounds like a similar issue and at the very least I feel this is an uncommon occurance. I am looking for thoughts or insight as to why I would get the above readings? Just to be clear, with the white internal neutral of the breaker disconnected from the main neutral the breaker holds. Connect it to the main and the breaker trips.
9 days later he tells me the same problem has happened. This time I wanted to troubleshoot to look for installation problems. I rechecked all the wiring, verified voltages from the main panel, and so forth. I was able to get the breaker to reset, but only after I disconnected the line side neutral of the breaker (internal wire). However, when checking voltage in the spa panel i found this:
1) 240V line to line-both line side and load side of GFCI
2) 120v line to neutral and line to ground on the line side of the breaker
3) 38V L1 to neutral on breaker
4) 208V L2 to neutral on breaker
5) 85V ground to neutral on breaker
Now, i wasn't involved in the replacement of the first breaker but it sounds like a similar issue and at the very least I feel this is an uncommon occurance. I am looking for thoughts or insight as to why I would get the above readings? Just to be clear, with the white internal neutral of the breaker disconnected from the main neutral the breaker holds. Connect it to the main and the breaker trips.