680.23(A)(3) - GFCI in branch circuit for pool light

[brantmacga]

I have a friend that builds pools; he happened to build one for a customer of our service dept.

I was there to troubleshoot an issue the homeowner said started after the pool was installed, and they asked me to look at the pool panel; the issue was completely unrelated.

I noticed the pool electrician used a QO230GFI for the pool feeder, and an HOM120 for the 120v pool light.

I mentioned 680.23(A)(3) to my friend, which requires the GFI for the pool light be installed in the branch circuit so that he is covered from a liability standpoint.

My question is, why is this a specific requirement? Why would the feeder GFI not be sufficient? My only guess is that maybe the CMP felt that you could end up with a circuit path longer than 250', which seems to be longer than what manufacturers recommend, although I've only seen that this can cause "nuisance tripping" in documentation. The particular install I looked at, the light was probably close to 200' from the feeder GFI.

Any other thoughts? Is this something worth looking into making a submission for revision?

We also do quite a bit of pool work, but install branch circuit GFI's where required as everyone is using automated panels and do not want a tripped GFI shutting down the whole system. Most of our installs are also above 50A anyway.

Thanks


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[Little Bill]

I think it could be written a bit better. My guess is often times it might be closer/more convenient to power the pool lights from a source closer to the lights. The CMP might have thought of this and wanted to insure the lights had GFCI protection.

I also wire for a lot of pools and to be honest, I've only wired one line voltage light in 3 years. Most use the low voltage LED lights now. I still put the feed to the transformer on a GFCI but that doesn't do a thing for the secondary side of the transformer. Makes the inspectors have that "warm & fuzzy" feeling though!:happyyes: