Imbalanced panel with equipment gfci protection

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sparky7774

New User
Location
Sioux Falls
Occupation
Electrician
Will a panel that is fed by an equipment protection gfci trip if the 3 phases are not balanced? This is a panel supplying 208-240 volt single phase heat tape with no neutrals however a,b and c phases are not balanced due to an odd number of circuits.
 
Balancing plays no part of the GFCI operation. As long as all the current leaving and returning is through the GFCI it will not trip.
 
Note that heat trace typically requires ground fault protection of equipment and not GFCI.
427.22 Ground-Fault Protection of Equipment.
Ground-fault protection of equipment shall be provided for electric heat tracing and heating panels. This requirement shall not apply in industrial establishments where there is alarm indication of ground faults and the following conditions apply:
  • (1) Conditions of maintenance and supervision ensure that only qualified persons service the installed systems.
  • (2) Continued circuit operation is necessary for safe operation of equipment or processes.
Click to expand...
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
Note that heat trace typically requires ground fault protection of equipment and not GFCI.
Click to expand...
'ground fault protection of equipment' is newer term for a class B GFCI 30mA.
Internally I'd wager its the exact same breaker as a GFCI just set to 30mA not 5mA
As others have stated it wont care about the imbalanced load just a ground fault.
 
tortuga said:
'ground fault protection of equipment' is newer term for a class B GFCI 30mA.
Internally I'd wager its the exact same breaker as a GFCI just set to 30mA not 5mA
As others have stated it wont care about the imbalanced load just a ground fault.
Click to expand...
Just pointing out the code requirement, and the fact that some inspection authorities will red tag a GFCI on heat trace.
While 30 mA is common for equipment protection, UL 1053 does not specify a trip point.
 
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