I had gotten an Intex pool with a filter pump. I ran a UF cable outside, and I installed a weatherproof outlet, plus I installed it under my deck stairs so it would be out of the elements. The UF cable goes into an Intermatic timer in my basement, then to the breaker panel. There are 3 total GFI devices on this circuit.
1) the filter pump has a GFI plug on it
2) The outside outlet is a GFI
3) the breaker is GFI ( I have a lot of spare GFI breakers to use)
So far on 2 occasions, the breaker tripped, and this was after it rained outside. All the connections look good, and the filter pump looks good. Would multiple GFI devices cause problems, or does the breaker trip indicate I have a fault somewhere?
I don't know that it matters exactly what he has, but it sounds like he has a GFCI breaker feeding a GFCI outlet which then has a pool pump plugged into it which also has it's own GFCI.
In any case, from what I know of how GFCIs operate, I don't see why having any number of them in series would cause them to trip. And any one or all of them could trip from a fault anywhere, depending on slight differences in trip point, speed, etc.
The fact that it trips after rain strongly suggests that water is getting into something.
As I understand the design of the gfci, no, having multiple gfci's on the same ckt would not cause false trips. I'd consider it most likely that water at some point caused the ground fault and resulting trip of the gfci. All they're doing is looking for an imabalance in the Hot/Neutral lines and the first one to see it will open the ckt.
First, I agree with everyone who says that multiple GFCI should not cause the breaker to trip. I just wanted to make sure we weren't missing anything with the set-up that might point us in a particular direction.
Second, having multiple GFCI is a waste of money - and possibly time, if you have to chase a trip through multiple devices.
There is a discussion going on over in rec.woodworking about a guy wiring up his new shop. He was going to use GFCI breakers and GFCI receptacles and the idea was generally poo-pooed by those that are knowledgeable in wiring and the NEC. Not that it's not allowed, it's just not worth it.
If only the GFCI breaker is tripping then I see one of 3 possible causes:
1 - Breakers don't just trip when there is a over-amperage situation. Many breakers have thermal protection built in for those situations where a circuit is borderline-over-amped ;-) which can cause the breaker to heat up and trip. I used to get those nuisance trips until I split up the circuits in my house.
2 - Water is getting into the circuit prior to the first GFCI receptacle, causing the breaker to trip but not any of the GFCI receptacles.
3 - The breaker is getting cranky.
Since you said "I have a lot of spare GFI breakers to use" the first thing I would do is swap the circuit to another GFCI breaker. At a minimum, that would eliminate # 3 as the cause.
Then I'd open the first external GFCI box and check for moisture, etc. all the way back to the breaker. I actually had water enter my breaker box via the service wire. Water was getting inside the jacket at the top of the house, flowing inside the service wire (even uphill) and dripping down over the main breaker. Before I had the "resources" to get it replaced, I slit the jacket ever so slightly at its lowest point and drained out the water. Once it was drained, I never got another drop in the breaker box. Anyway, search for moisture (or some other kind of intermittent short) between the first GFCI receptacle and the breaker.
Next I'd try to split up the devices, even if by temporarily using extension cords, to eliminate #1. Best case would be to plug the cord into a different GFCI, on a different circuit, to see if that trips.
Lastly (and more work) would be to pull a temp wire from the breaker to the first outside outlet. This would eliminate cause # 2.
Circuit breaker weak or too small for pump starting current?
BUT. Before installing a bigger breaker check the proper size of all the wiring between the breaker panel and the heaviest pool item. Maybe something has been changed or added; a pool heater for example?
Does wiring and breaker size meet specification for the pool installation.
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