Gas fired pool heater +GFCI

[g-and-h_electric]

I cant find a definitive answer to this in ART. 680.

Client has an above ground pool (I did all the electrical to it, and it was inspected). The pump is on a twistlock recept and GFCI. Heateris connected with a cord and plug to the same GFCI. The heater has begun tripping the GFCI All the heater has is a draft inducer, pilotless ignition and gas valve, so no electrical parts in direct water contact.

Here is my question does the heater need to be GFCI protected if it is NOT cord and plug connected? I cant find an answer in the NEC

Any thoughts?????


Howard

 

[brantmacga]

680.28 Gas-Fired Water Heater. Circuits serving gas-fired swim- ming pool and spa water heaters operating at voltages above the low-voltage contact limit shall be provided with ground- fault circuit-interrupter protection for personnel.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[g-and-h_electric]

THANK YOU!!!! I missed that section, guess I am going to have to figure out where the ground leakage is, AND FIX IT .

Howard

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Interesting that a gas fired heater always had gfci but the heat pump water heater does not.

 

[majik009]

i was just thinking the same thing as i was reviewing a new electric pool heat pump spec that says gfci protection not required

 

[brantmacga]

Interesting that a gas fired heater always had gfci but the heat pump water heater does not.

I believe there was a submission to add it to the 2023.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Dennis Alwon]

I believe there was a submission to add it to the 2023.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well if they do then I hope they all the kinks out of it because right now they are having issues with gfci and some ac units especially the mini splits

 

[SSDriver]

Well if they do then I hope they all the kinks out of it because right now they are having issues with gfci and some ac units especially the mini splits

That would be the logical way to do it. The CMP will likely just keep expanding the code with almost no consideration and let us deal with it.

 

[g-and-h_electric]

Hey Guys,

thank you for all the input. Th GFCI stays. The problem was actually a combination of things WITHIN the heater. First off (in my opinion) a bad design by the manufacturer....... using a 120 Volt "proprietary" gas valve, which had a few mA (hard to get an exact reading) of leakage to ground which set off the GFCI. This was easily confirmed by disconnecting the gas valve and attempting a start up, power to valve and the GFCI held.... This valve was not only massively expensive but out of stock.

Simple solution to that..... Found a 24 Volt valve with the same pressure, volume and opening speed specs, added a 24 Volt transformer to power it. Problem solved we have heat, and the client is very happy .

Again thank you for the insights.


Howard, N9KTW