Availability of 2p GFCI breakers

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raberding

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Dayton, OH
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Consulting Engineer
Hi - our company does a lot of design/CDs for a well-known, global restaurant, and there is a variety of GFCI applications for kitchen equipment. Usually there is a 400A, 208/120/3 service and two or three panelboards. A lot of the sites are in FL; some in TX, MI, IN.

In addition to "ordinary" 120/20/1 GFCI devices, we need 20/2, 30/2, 40/2, and 50/2 GFCI breakers. I heard this morning that there is a 6-month lead time for these.
The equipment NEEDS to be cord-and-plug - Hardwiring is NOT an option. So we NEED GFCI protection - somewhere.
Not sure if any deadfront GFCIs are available in these ratings.
Has anyone else seen this supply shortage? and what can we do?

thanks!
 
raberding said:
Hi - our company does a lot of design/CDs for a well-known, global restaurant, and there is a variety of GFCI applications for kitchen equipment. Usually there is a 400A, 208/120/3 service and two or three panelboards. A lot of the sites are in FL; some in TX, MI, IN.

In addition to "ordinary" 120/20/1 GFCI devices, we need 20/2, 30/2, 40/2, and 50/2 GFCI breakers. I heard this morning that there is a 6-month lead time for these.
The equipment NEEDS to be cord-and-plug - Hardwiring is NOT an option. So we NEED GFCI protection - somewhere.
Not sure if any deadfront GFCIs are available in these ratings.
Has anyone else seen this supply shortage? and what can we do?

thanks!
Click to expand...
Welcome to the world of 'just in time delivery'.
This has been an issue for several months.
 
yeah, we've been hearing this, but seems like just recently it's been affecting our project schedules. I really don't like to tell clients "sorry, I've got no solution".
 
raberding said:
Hi - our company does a lot of design/CDs for a well-known, global restaurant, and there is a variety of GFCI applications for kitchen equipment. Usually there is a 400A, 208/120/3 service and two or three panelboards. A lot of the sites are in FL; some in TX, MI, IN.

In addition to "ordinary" 120/20/1 GFCI devices, we need 20/2, 30/2, 40/2, and 50/2 GFCI breakers. I heard this morning that there is a 6-month lead time for these.
The equipment NEEDS to be cord-and-plug - Hardwiring is NOT an option. So we NEED GFCI protection - somewhere.
Not sure if any deadfront GFCIs are available in these ratings.
Has anyone else seen this supply shortage? and what can we do?

thanks!
Click to expand...
Not just GFCIs. Switchgear, panels, covers. I have ECs redesigning their services to use the equipment they have in stock
 
Danielt said:
Not just GFCIs. Switchgear, panels, covers. I have ECs redesigning their services to use the equipment they have in stock
Click to expand...
I got told 100 weeks for utility transformers. we're going to hire the local track teams to run on power generating treadmills to get us up and running in the mean time.
 
The supply shortages seem to stem from how the country handled Covid. I’ve got a customer that just got back from Thailand, they are ready to ship as much glass and aluminum he needs, where as the US suppliers can’t meet his needs. He said in Thailand, they do thermal scans of the workers when they come in, and any sick employees, they send home. They don’t shut the entire plant down like they do in the US. All the stores over there have thermal scans for everyone that comes through the door.
 
What restaurant are you building? That’s mostly what I do as well for at least a dozen or so national brands. Shortage hit us 18/mo ago, which is why we buy every square D Gfci we can find.

There are a few alternatives in the way of CT’s and relays but that is an extremely costly option.


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hillbilly1 said:
The supply shortages seem to stem from how the country handled Covid. I’ve got a customer that just got back from Thailand, they are ready to ship as much glass and aluminum he needs, where as the US suppliers can’t meet his needs. He said in Thailand, they do thermal scans of the workers when they come in, and any sick employees, they send home. They don’t shut the entire plant down like they do in the US. All the stores over there have thermal scans for everyone that comes through the door.
Click to expand...
Even without sickness being an issue, lately there are places that either can't operate at all or run at lesser capacity simply because they don't have enough workers or even because they can't get needed supplies for whatever operation they are running.
 
brantmacga said:
What restaurant are you building? That’s mostly what I do as well for at least a dozen or so national brands. Shortage hit us 18/mo ago, which is why we buy every square D Gfci we can find.

There are a few alternatives in the way of CT’s and relays but that is an extremely costly option.


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Click to expand...
Hi - coffee. That green Siren from Seattle.
 
Yeah - panels/breakers/RTUs (we do hvac design too) - all 6 months+ out
I have been telling contactors to "let me know what you can get". I'll design around it.
 
raberding said:
Hi - coffee. That green Siren from Seattle.
Click to expand...

Ah, no I don’t build those yet but some GC’s are bugging me about it.

Are there any 3-phase loads? If not I’d look to another manufacturer. I’ve been using ABB on jobs that don’t have 3-pole GFCI breakers. Still some delays but not as bad as SQD.


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brantmacga said:
Ah, no I don’t build those yet but some GC’s are bugging me about it.

Are there any 3-phase loads? If not I’d look to another manufacturer. I’ve been using ABB on jobs that don’t have 3-pole GFCI breakers. Still some delays but not as bad as SQD.


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Click to expand...
We have no 3p GFCIs. Just 20/1's and a collection of 2p GFCIs.
A couple RTUs are 3ph. Water heater if elec is 3ph. We have approved GE, Siemens, SqD, Eaton/CH.
 
raberding said:
We have no 3p GFCIs. Just 20/1's and a collection of 2p GFCIs.
A couple RTUs are 3ph. Water heater if elec is 3ph. We have approved GE, Siemens, SqD, Eaton/CH.
Click to expand...

I'd go for whatever is available.... we primarily use SqD because they're the only manufacturer of 3-pole miniature GFCI circuit breakers.

As for dead-fronts... I've only found them in 20/1 configuration.

Our largest customers are completing their material buyouts well ahead of the scheduled project start now to avoid delays.
 
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