sump pumps on GFCI

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petersonra

petersonra

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Northern illinois
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Semi-retired engineer
On another forum, some posters mentioned they got a big surprise when they found their sump pumps did not come on because they were plugged into tripped GFCIs.

Several posters suggested not plugging them into a GFCI for that very reason. Another poster said his county (Dade in FL) requires sump pumps be on a GFCI.

Just curious what you guys think.
 
IMHO it is not a big deal for sump pumps to be GFCI protected. I almost always GFCI protect mine and have never heard of any of them tripping.
 
C3PO said:
IMHO it is not a big deal for sump pumps to be GFCI protected. I almost always GFCI protect mine and have never heard of any of them tripping.
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It was a big deal to these guys when their pumps did not pump and they got water in their basements.
 
If there's a Code compliant workaround that will allow me to leave my clients sump without GFI protection, and I can accomplish it within budget, I'm for the workaround.

It's my opinion, that in the name of "personel protection" we are creating property protection problems that require additional hardware to protect the property from the personel protection.

Given enough time, the black mold will create a new need for personel protection.
 
petersonra said:
It was a big deal to these guys when their pumps did not pump and they got water in their basements.
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If their pumps are tripping then there is a reason. They don't just trip for the heck of it.
 
al hildenbrand said:
If there's a Code compliant workaround that will allow me to leave my clients sump without GFI protection, and I can accomplish it within budget, I'm for the workaround.

It's my opinion, that in the name of "personel protection" we are creating property protection problems that require additional hardware to protect the property from the personel protection.

Given enough time, the black mold will create a new need for personel protection.
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just where does code require it at all?
 
SmithBuilt said:
Sometimes I think they do trip for the heck of it. I know lightening will trip them.

Either way it's $100 min service call to check it out and be sure nothing else is wrong.
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And sell a new GFCI receptacle. :grin: That would be to avoid future nuisance trips. In my experience and from general opinion new GFCI equipment (compared to older stuff) is nearly impervious to nuisance tripping.
 
Here is the article in question
NEC2008 said:
Art. 210.8(A)(5) Unfinished basements ? for purposes of this section, unfinished basements are defined as portions or areas of the basement not intended as habitable rooms and limited to storage areas, work areas, and the like

Exception to (5): A receptacle supplying only a permanently installed fire alarm or burglar alarm system shall not be required to have ground-fault circuit-interrupter protection.
FPN: See 760.41(B) and 760.121(B) for power supply requirements for fire alarm systems.
Receptacles installed under the exception to 210.8(A)(5) shall not be considered as meeting the requirements of 210.52(G).
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Would having the ground pin broken on an extension cord cause it to trip? I didn't think it would, but this morning I got a call on a temporary sump pump tripping the GFCI receptacle. They said it would run for 2 minutes then trip. They also plugged it in to a different one and it tripped too. Everything checked out fine, and I noticed the ground was broken off. I switched out the extension cord and it has ran all day.
 
hockeyoligist2 said:
I switched out the extension cord and it has ran all day.
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They should not be run on extenstion cords, why didnt you offer to install a GFCI next to the appliance? And no, a ground pin does not cause a GFCI to trip, but your faulty extension cord did.
 
petersonra said:
It was a big deal to these guys when their pumps did not pump and they got water in their basements.
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No different then a utility failure or a pump failure etc.

If the sump pump is that vital (as mine is) they should have a back up in place or at least an alarm.

The fact the GFCI tripped is a sign the sump pump is in need of replacement.
 
iwire said:
No different then a utility failure or a pump failure etc.

If the sump pump is that vital (as mine is) they should have a back up in place or at least an alarm.

The fact the GFCI tripped is a sign the sump pump is in need of replacement.
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I agree, This whole GFCI nuisance thing is so mis-understood. If someone is that worried about a pump, install a battery back up pump as well.
 
hockeyoligist2 said:
This is industrial. The receptacle is at the top of a pit that needed to be pumped down. The extension cord was needed to get to the bottom of a 20' deep pit.
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I guarentee the instructions say not to use an extension cord. ;)
 
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