Surge Protector Keeps Tripping

Jwils27 · Oct 2, 2019

I have a heavy duty surge protector that keeps tripping randomly. I played out everything below to the best of my limited understanding. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

I have a dedicated 20 amp gfci protected outlet just for my fish room. It has not tripped so I don't believe it is the problem. I am currently running two ridged outdoor surge protectors ( link ). One of them is tripping randomly every day or two. They are 15 amp 18000 watt units that have built in dust protectors overall they are sturdy nice surge protectors. The one in question have my QT system on it, my apex on it, couple other small electronics, and 2 4 bulb aquatic life T5 fixtures. I do not believe it is an overage in amps or wattage. The unit has also never gotten wet and is free of rust or visible damage.

Two potential problems cross my mind: 1) The problem started after adding a used but in new condition T5 fixture. Could have been faulty unit. It seems to be the catalyst. Only reason I don't think that is the case is that when I unplugged the fixture it still tripped with my other T5 fixture plugged in and I had never had issues with it. 2) a month ago I had the gfci trip when a faulty heater sparked in the tank and shut everything off. That happened on this surge protector and could have weakened or damaged the internal mechanism of the surge protector.

Currently I am going through and testing what could be the culprit. Removing each plug one at a time until I figure it out. Unfortunately nothing is consistent except the T5s but It also seems as if they could be the straw that breaks the horses back.

Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated. This is a very frustrating situation and unfortunately are putting my fish in danger.

Reefer_Rob · Oct 2, 2019

It could be a weak or weakening surge protector. They’re mechanical and can go south.
You say you have 2 and 1 keeps tripping. Swap all of the items between the 2. See if the issue follows it or still stays on the trippy one.

Brian_68 · Oct 2, 2019

How old is the surge protector? They do have a finite life and that is dependent on the number and magnitude of surges it has seen over its lifetime.

Jwils27 · Oct 3, 2019

Brian_68 said:
How old is the surge protector? They do have a finite life and that is dependent on the number and magnitude of surges it has seen over its lifetime.

It is only 1 year old but I think it is the culprit the more I research and read. I am going to get a new one today and I will test it out.

flagg37 · Oct 3, 2019

Reefer_Rob said:
It could be a weak or weakening surge protector. They’re mechanical and can go south.
You say you have 2 and 1 keeps tripping. Swap all of the items between the 2. See if the issue follows it or still stays on the trippy one.

I think this is your only solution to nailing down the issue. I would start by swapping everything on one with everything on the other. If the same surge suppressor trips then you know it’s the surge suppressor that’s the problem. If the other one trips you know it’s a device connected to it. Then you’ll have the harder part of figuring out which device it is. At that point I would go back to the original set up and one by one move a device from one to the other until the trip occurs on the other surge suppressor.