UV keeps tripping GFCI??

[cmoore806]

doh

 

[GlassMunky]

GFCI is not to prevent fires, it is to prevent the loss of life.

If your UV is tripping the GFCI then you have leakage to earth.

in this case it turns the unit off if water were to leak into the electric part of the unit which in turn could potentially start a fire.

 

[cmoore806]

in this case it turns the unit off if water were to leak into the electric part of the unit which in turn could potentially start a fire.

water leaking into an electrical outlet wouldn't cause a fire, it would cause a dangerous situation for you. Water leaking into a GFCI trips the circuit so you don't get hurt. Maybe only in Hollywood the water causes a fire.

 

[GlassMunky]

water leaking into an electrical outlet wouldn't cause a fire, it would cause a dangerous situation for you. Water leaking into a GFCI trips the circuit so you don't get hurt. Maybe only in Hollywood the water causes a fire.

your'e not following along correctly.

regardless of whatever the semantics we wanna play with electrical terms, i bought a $400 unit that does not function properly and a safety feature does not work. neither company wants to refund or replace the unit to a functioning one. thats the issue and the only point i care to discuss.

and honestly at this point this thread is nothing more than documentation of events for both BRS and Pentair and potentially my CC claims devision.

 

[Plecosam]

in this case it turns the unit off if water were to leak into the electric part of the unit which in turn could potentially start a fire.

Even if you are correct, GFCI's were not and are not designed to protect aquarium or water products, nor are they to prevent fires, they are designed to detect leakage to ground, interrupt power and save lives. There is a reason the ground leakage is 20milliamps here in Australia.

Sorry mate.

 

[Plecosam]

your'e not following along correctly.

regardless of whatever the semantics we wanna play with electrical terms, i bought a $400 unit that does not function properly and a safety feature does not work. neither company wants to refund or replace the unit to a functioning one. thats the issue and the only point i care to discuss.

and honestly at this point this thread is nothing more than documentation of events for both BRS and Pentair and potentially CC claims devision.

I understand your frustration but facts do not care about your feelings, it sounds to me like this device is of poor design. Hot water systems over here use 100mA RCD breakers due to the nature of heating elements.

Your UV is not a fire hazard, earth leakage breakers do not work the way people think, they compare mA incoming to outgoing and if there is a difference they trip, this is the 20mA difference I mentioned before. If you megger your device, which you may or may not be able to do, it would be interesting if it was within specs.

 

[LC8Sumi]

Are you testing the UV dry or are you pumping water through it?

 

[GlassMunky]

Are you testing the UV dry or are you pumping water through it?

There’s water in it, as it’s on a tank and running.
No water ever leaks into the electrical area, so weather it has water or not it a mute point.

 

[GlassMunky]

post deleted

 

[Plecosam]

Well good luck, not sure what you are trying to achieve here.

 

[GlassMunky]

As mentioned this thread is for documentation.
I would like to get a unit that functions properly, or a refund. That’s been clearly stated many times.

 

[Plecosam]

On second thoughts not worth my time.

 

[Cory]

my lifegard 90 watt ho uv also gives the tingle. Its brand new too. I measured .5 uA coming from it. I dont have a gfci so i just installed a ground probe because i noticed my yellow tang acts much more jumpy whithout a ground.

A couple of ideas where it comes from. Possibly micro cracks wirthin the glass tube, or oils on the rubber sealant side allows enough seepage through due to salty sweat. Another possibility is its just the nature of high voltage being close to water and inducing enough amps to cause a tingle. Lastly i noticed a couple of brown spots on the outer glass tube on each end, maybe that caused some micro cracks? Solved my dino problem but created another....

 

[GlassMunky]

my lifegard 90 watt ho uv also gives the tingle. Its brand new too. I measured .5 uA coming from it. I dont have a gfci so i just installed a ground probe because i noticed my yellow tang acts much more jumpy whithout a ground.

A couple of ideas where it comes from. Possibly micro cracks wirthin the glass tube, or oils on the rubber sealant side allows enough seepage through due to salty sweat. Another possibility is its just the nature of high voltage being close to water and inducing enough amps to cause a tingle. Lastly i noticed a couple of brown spots on the outer glass tube on each end, maybe that caused some micro cracks? Solved my dino problem but created another....

Your understanding of glass and physics is incorrect. That’s not how glass (and quartz glass) works... re: “micro cracks”

 

[Cory]

Your understanding of glass and physics is incorrect. That’s not how glass (and quartz glass) works... re: “micro cracks”

Well it was worth a shot. Any ideas why this happens?

 

[GlassMunky]

Well it was worth a shot. Any ideas why this happens?

Nope. I gave up.
I just sucked it up and accepted that if you run a UV filter it can’t be gfi protected. I also run a grounding probe now.

None of the engineers at the manufacturer could figure it out I don’t think I’m gonna....

Although I did get a whole second UV unit sent me to me free because of it from BRS, so basically when this one starts breaking down on the inside (inside plastic since there no UV shield) I can just replace the whole unit.
so I least I got something for all the headache

 

[Brian_68]

Nope. I gave up.
I just sucked it up and accepted that if you run a UV filter it can’t be gfi protected. I also run a grounding probe now.

None of the engineers at the manufacturer could figure it out I don’t think I’m gonna....

Although I did get a whole second UV unit sent me to me free because of it from BRS, so basically when this one starts breaking down on the inside (inside plastic since there no UV shield) I can just replace the whole unit.
so I least I got something for all the headache

If it was not designed originally to be low leakage or if they do not know how it will not matter if it is new or old.

 

[GlassMunky]

If it was not designed originally to be low leakage or if they do not know how it will not matter if it is new or old.

The manufacturer states that it should ALWAYS be plugged into GFI outlet when running. But multiple replacement parts tells me it’s not possible even though they think it is.

 

[Sleepydoc]

THIS!

Multiple GFCI's on a circuit cause havoc. Install only on the first outlet from the Main Circuit Breaker and the whole circuit will be protected.

There is an effect where other GFCI's detect the tiny amount of current being used to detect resistance to ground, which causes the overall resistance to drop.

Resistors in parellel reduce overall resistance. Added in series they increase it.

You are correct that having resistors in parallel decreases the overall resistance, but GFCIs work by detecting current imbalance, not by detecting resistance to ground. Having multiple GFCIs in parallel shouldn’t affect that.

 

[Grigs]

Not an electrician, but that's my understanding. I was thinking of more than one off the same circuit, as in the first outlet. If another is plugged in off of that you will see problems. I work in Power Generation and that's the standard. One GFCI/ckt