faceless gfci wth built inn current transformer

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whofrankw

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milford nj
Went to trouble shoot a job with roof heat cables. There was a disconnect switch next a GFI. The GFI was tripped and wouldn't reset so I pulled it out and it was a device I had never seen. It was a leviton GFI with some sort of CT or surge protection on the back. Has anyone seen something like this. Is it meant for the heat cable or some sort of protection. They did have a separate set of heat cables for the back with the same set up( switch/GFI) but it was just a regular GFI. This set up is confusing and have no idea what the previous electrician was trying to so
 
Was the conductors of the protected circuit passing through the CT on the back? If not you probably didn't have any GFCI protection, the screw terminals on those are supposed to supply an approved relay or contactor coil to open the circuit when GF is detected. If the load were run through the screw terminals - I don't know if there is any protection offered, and I also might be concerned if the output contacts of that device can handle the load when they were likely only designed for pilot duty type of application.

Other thing is GFCI isn't required for such heating cables, EPD level protection which is often 30 mA instead of 4-6 mA is all that is required. A class A GFCI may have more "nuisance trips" on faults that are otherwise considered acceptable.
 
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