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Hi I'm wondering if anyone has had this problem, my hot tub trips the rcd breaker when I turn the heater on, I've changed the heater and it did the same, everything else runs fine pumps blower etc, then I was told it was the heat relay on main board that has gone. So I managed to get a new main board had an electrician wire it in then soon as I tried to heat it up it's tripped out again. Any help will be grateful
Quote from: Marc19780 on April 05, 2017, 05:23:55 pmHi I'm wondering if anyone has had this problem, my hot tub trips the rcd breaker when I turn the heater on, I've changed the heater and it did the same, everything else runs fine pumps blower etc, then I was told it was the heat relay on main board that has gone. So I managed to get a new main board had an electrician wire it in then soon as I tried to heat it up it's tripped out again. Any help will be gratefulI’m no hot tub electrical expert but no one gave your question a go so I will offer my 2 cents. The RCD / GFCI breaker is very sensitive to current imbalance. That is how it protects you in the tub with 240v and a tub of water. The breaker aspect looks for over current draw and the GFCI looks for a slight change in current in to current out. In other words any slight leakage to ground will trip it. In the case of protecting you it will trip within the half cycle if the hot line came in contact with you and your path to ground and you wouldn’t get a shock it would be so instant.Some place I would suspect some leakage of current to a part of the tub that is grounded or it could be even in the power lines to the tub or in the GFCI itself. Just a wild idea as it was working and you changed the heater and now have the problem I would start looking at the heater. If you disconnect the heater and insulate the ends and power the tub up what happens.
Quote from: bud16415 on April 06, 2017, 11:53:31 amQuote from: Marc19780 on April 05, 2017, 05:23:55 pmHi I'm wondering if anyone has had this problem, my hot tub trips the rcd breaker when I turn the heater on, I've changed the heater and it did the same, everything else runs fine pumps blower etc, then I was told it was the heat relay on main board that has gone. So I managed to get a new main board had an electrician wire it in then soon as I tried to heat it up it's tripped out again. Any help will be gratefulI’m no hot tub electrical expert but no one gave your question a go so I will offer my 2 cents. The RCD / GFCI breaker is very sensitive to current imbalance. That is how it protects you in the tub with 240v and a tub of water. The breaker aspect looks for over current draw and the GFCI looks for a slight change in current in to current out. In other words any slight leakage to ground will trip it. In the case of protecting you it will trip within the half cycle if the hot line came in contact with you and your path to ground and you wouldn’t get a shock it would be so instant.Some place I would suspect some leakage of current to a part of the tub that is grounded or it could be even in the power lines to the tub or in the GFCI itself. Just a wild idea as it was working and you changed the heater and now have the problem I would start looking at the heater. If you disconnect the heater and insulate the ends and power the tub up what happens. Yea, if it trips again then isolate the lines from the gfci to the board. Check continuity. Then the breaker. But be careful it's 220V!!