GFCI tripping instantly after replacing.

[JustinB]

Hello everyone so my issue started yesterday spa was dead tried to flip GFCI it went into on position upon testing no voltage coming out but 242V going in and test button not works. 

So today I replaced the GFCI box and all(because it was cheaper than just GFCI).  It instantly trips unplugged all accesories still tripped.  If I disconnect the ground (green) everything works great.  Not going to leave disconnected any ideas on what's going on and how to fix?

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[Vinny]

Did you take a photo of the GFCI before you took it out?

I'm not an electrician (and I guessing you're not either because your asking this question) but to me it looks as though you have the neutral (white) wire going to ground and the ground (green) wire going to the GFCI. Or at least that what it appears to me from the photo but the green wire kind of disappears from view and may be wrapping itself along the back of the GFCI to ground.

I had to replace the GFCI on my tub last year and since I am not an electrician I made sure I had all my info from the original one documented so I could just follow what was there originally. If you did take all the info and followed it exactly as it was you have a bigger problem such as the heater being bad or the board went.

 

[av8r]

Did you take a photo of the GFCI before you took it out?

I'm not an electrician (and I guessing you're not either because your asking this question) but to me it looks as though you have the neutral (white) wire going to ground and the ground (green) wire going to the GFCI. Or at least that what it appears to me from the photo but the green wire kind of disappears from view and may be wrapping itself along the back of the GFCI to ground.

It's really hard to tell with all the extra wire in that box, but looks like you have green supply to the ground bus, green from tub to the ground bus, white supply to neutral bus, white from the tub to the neutral bus and the two hot legs (red and black) where they belong.

 

[Spa01]

From the pictures it looms as if the gfci in the box is wired correctly. The wires from the panel box to the gfci should connect as so. Black and red on feed side of breaker. Neutral to the neutral block and ground to ground block. The wires go to the tub should hook up red and black to breaker neutral to the breaker. The pre wired nuetral from the breaker goes to the neutral block and ground to ground block..... on the hot tub wiring it looks like u have an 8guage neutral wired into 3 green wires. The neutral has to hook up to one on the 3 wire blocks at the back on your control.box by your black and red the greens its tied into are probably ground wires that should be hooked into your ground block.

 

[av8r]

In the tub side box it appears that the neutral (white) has been capped off and isn't connected to anything.

 

[lets]

From the pictures it looms as if the gfci in the box is wired correctly. The wires from the panel box to the gfci should connect as so. Black and red on feed side of breaker. Neutral to the neutral block and ground to ground block. The wires go to the tub should hook up red and black to breaker neutral to the breaker. The pre wired nuetral from the breaker goes to the neutral block and ground to ground block..... on the hot tub wiring it looks like u have an 8guage neutral wired into 3 green wires. The neutral has to hook up to one on the 3 wire blocks at the back on your control.box by your black and red the greens its tied into are probably ground wires that should be hooked into your ground block.

?????????????? proofread, Proofread, PROOFREAD

 

[lets]

In the tub side box it appears that the neutral (white) has been capped off and isn't connected to anything.

This particular spa is dedicated 240v and does NOT require a neutral.

 

[JustinB]

So if it does not need neutral do I disconnect white wires?  Would this make the ground trip the breaker?

Took off breaker so easier to see wires.

 

[Spa01]

Everything in the box is wired correctly and so is the breaker. It must be a bad gfi or something in the control box.  Have u disconnected the element to make sure it's not popping it

 

[Spa01]

If its just straight  240v with no neutral then why is there 3 hook ups in the top left corner where the black and red are. I missed hooking my neutral to the gfi and all it would do is trip until it had its neutral.

 

[lets]

In your first post? Picture inside the control box? The 3 wires are RED (hot), BLACK (hot) and GREEN (ground). 3 hook ups...no neutral.

 

[Jacuzzi_Jim]

Also looking at the control box and the corrosion at the heater element connections they are pretty rusty.  Might actually be the source or some of the source of the tripping.    From what I see Dr Spa is right, no neutral. 

 

[JustinB]

So I disconnected the neutral but the breaker still tripping when I disconnect the green ground wire the spa runs fine.  Now if I  hook up the ground wire while power is on it continues to run.  Any ideas?

 

[Jacuzzi_Jim]

Does it heat up at that point when it's running? 

 

[JustinB]

Works perfect almost like surge/power going to ground tripping GFCI not sure why it's not tripping if I hook up ground after fact. 

 

[Jacuzzi_Jim]

My guess would be there is possibly a short somewhere.  I would let it run like you have been for a couple of days and see if it trips with the heater kicking off and on and same with the pumps, normal use.  Rare case maybe a bad breaker but doubt full.    Does it trip if you press the test btn?   

 

[lets]

When the original GFCI tripped, did you just flip it to the on position, or did you forcefully push it towards the OFF position first, then to on (that's typically the correct way to reset a GFCI breaker).

Just to throw something into the mix...have you considered that the GFCI is actually working properly, and there's a short on the circuit board ;-)

 

[hottubdan]

Electricity can be dangerous.  Just the fact you are asking these questions makes me think you should hire a professional...or two.  You might need an electrician.  You might need a service tech.

Or,,,you might need a mortician. 

 

[Spa01]

Read the control box and see if that neutral is labeled on the lugs besides the red and black. If the neutral isnt hooked up right it can mess alot up. Only other thing i can say it try hooiing the ground to the breaker but that will prob just trip the system.

 

[Spa01]

Do you have an ozonator or any other accessories. Possibly on start up somthing is sending to ground. Your circulating pump and jet pump will all be grounded through the control box try disconnecting one at a time and see if one of them is possibly causing the trip