arc fault and gfci combo breaker issues

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jmullinselec

Member
Location
louisville
Occupation
electrician
i am having a crazy issue that is beyond my expertise.

i have a square d qo panel in a home with arc fault gfci breakers installed (newer home) i was contracted to do wiring for a pool
off the main panel i installed a sub panel about 40ft away siemans type 125 amp 8 space outdoor mai lug panel in this panel there is a 2 pole 50 (heat pump) 2 pole 20 gfci (variable speed hayward pump) and a single pole 20 (gfci, salt chlorinator, and lights). at times wen the heat pump kicks off it trips the gfxi arc comb breakers in the house, also noticed with heat pump off and pump on the breakers in the arc gfci breakers in the main panel are warm my question is could the harmonics from the variable speed be messing with the qo breakers none of my breakers in my sub panel have never tripped i have pulled my hair out over this any insight would help ( i have also checked all bonding in house and my panel )
 
hbiss

hbiss

EC, Westchester, New York NEC: 2014
Location
Hawthorne, New York NEC: 2014
Occupation
EC
jmullinselec said:
at times when the heat pump kicks off it trips the gfci arc comb breakers in the house, also noticed with heat pump off and pump on the... arc gfci breakers in the main panel are warm
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Breakers as in several?

Comb afci breakers will get warm, even hot even with no load because they have electronics inside. So I would consider that normal.

The first thing I would do is replace the SQ D breakers giving you trouble with the most recent brand new ones.

Yes, there have been problems with VS pool pumps and GFCI breakers. But your pump is running fine?

-Hal
 
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jmullinselec

Member
Location
louisville
Occupation
electrician
yes several all arc fault gfci combos the regular arc faults are not giving any problem i have checked all neutrals and grounds in the whole system even had power company come check there connections, i today have replaced pump with a single speed pump no vfd involved to see if that’s the problem haven’t had a late night text from homeowner yet
 
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hillbilly1

Senior Member
Location
North Georgia mountains
Occupation
Owner/electrical contractor
Not uncommon for arc faults to create a lot of heat, I had one of the early Siemens panelboards the created so much heat, the cover was almost too hot to touch. None of the breakers had more than two amps on them. Siemens replaced all 42 under warranty.
 
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jmullinselec

Member
Location
louisville
Occupation
electrician
sqd is sending new breakers i changed pump out and no tripping since i honestly think harmonics of the variable speed pump was messing with the whole system i sent one of my electrician over there also he has 24yrs in the trade ( awesome at service) and prob the best resi electrician i have ever met and he came and said the same thing about vfd said could be old generation breakers
 
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