Scott's 270g aka Project Mayhem

[Scythanith]

Check this out if you're bored

http://blog.lithicimages.com/?p=271

[KLUW]

WOW! awesome!!!

[Scythanith]

I am having issues with my 220v breaker kicking out and leaving my circulation pumps off. Problem is I don't know if it's a faulty GFCI breaker or the Abyzz pumps malfunctioning. And currently it's completely random. Any ideas on how I can test for either specifically? I have an electrician coming in to check the breaker and the load on the circuit.

[Wildechild_01]

Originally Posted by Scythanith

I am having issues with my 220v breaker kicking out and leaving my circulation pumps off. Problem is I don't know if it's a faulty GFCI breaker or the Abyzz pumps malfunctioning. And currently it's completely random. Any ideas on how I can test for either specifically? I have an electrician coming in to check the breaker and the load on the circuit.

First off, I just read through this entire thread and WOW! amazing set up, as for your pump breaker question, I am an electrician and here are my thoughts.

A clamp type electrical meter is the easiest way to see if the pump is locking up and causing the circuit to overload, in these situations it is often best to let the qualified professional take a look at it.

I do wonder why did you choose to GFCI protect it? Canadian Electrical Code does NOT require that outlet to be GFCI protected, often people make the assumption that because there is water near by we need the GFCI but in cases like this one the GFCI can just lead to added headaches if they trip and things stop running properly. It is a similar situation to Sump Pumps for basements, yes there is water involved, but we do not want that pump to stop running because there is water nearby.

My recommendation would be to have a regular 2pole breaker installed, this will eliminate the problem of nuisance tripping of the GFCI and if it is an overload situation the new breaker will still trip properly.

Hopefully the pump is not shot.

[Scythanith]

Thanks Wildechild! The electrician that installed the 220v breaker is coming in tomorrow after work to check it out. I always assumed water = GFCI so I used a GFCI breaker. I think Jon will be bringing a common 2 pole breaker with him when he comes over. That seems like the simplest of fixes. Question, how would we test if it was indeed the pumps causing the issue, not the breaker?

[Wildechild_01]

Your electrician will hopefully have a meter he can clamp over wires in the panel to see how much current the pump is drawing. If the pump is the issue the new breaker will still trip when it tries to pull too much power. My gut feeling would be that it is a GFCI issue but without physically looking hard to know. Have your electrician check the connections in the box behind the receptacle as well as make sure all the connections are nice and tight at breakers as well as they can start to come loose over time and that can cause issues too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Scythanith]

Ok so Jon checked it out and I had 1.2A on one side and 1.3A on the other. He said that wasn't leakage but that the two poles weren't sharing the load equally. He couldn't say why that was but he felt that it wasn't the VFD's from the pumps causing an issue. But the difference was enough to be tripping the GFCI. Why it only recently started, who knows. So we pulled the expensive GFCI breaker out and slapped a 2 pole in and so far so good *knock on computer*.

[Wildechild_01]

Yeah that's definitely enough to trip it. Really any motor can nuisance trip a gfci. My guess would be problem solved.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Scythanith]

Here's hoping

[Scythanith]

I am also looking into adding some T5's onto my lighting rig. Probably 8x36" to get full coverage in two bulbs. Level out the lighting and get rid of some of the darker spots. A little more pop with some of the T5 bulb combos. I have IceCap 660 ballasts, standoffs and individual reflectors that I am going to repurpose and add on to my aluminum frame.

------ ------
------ ------
Mitras x 3
------ ------
------ ------