slnies said:On that note, you forgot that in a house hold if you do the math you fault rating one the line side is in access of 41k and a breaker is only rated for 10k which means that your property is not protected from the power company unless you fuse. That is why the code now requires coordination of equipment. You are correct about the breakers ability( good example of bad breaker "FPE") and you are correct about arc flash hazard. Most fuses are rated for 100k rms and can be had in ratings as high as 1M. This is also why your typical 1200-3000 amp switch gear is fused. Note that they are gfci protected above 1000 amps or 1000V nominal. This however is not for life protection it is for fire protection. You are also correct about the limits of a GFCI and that is why they are a good idea. One should note that a GFCI is no guarantee of safety unless properly monitored and tested. This goes for all electrical equipment.
neo82087 said:I'm confuse now
and PHEW a dipole single throw 250vac 30amp switch is hard to find and expensive!
neo82087 said:So I decided to test out the GFCI today and I followed the instructions on the
back of the GFCI. Hit the test button and it shut off the power to my
controller, but when I hit the reset there was a substantial spark and the
circuit breaker tripped. Don't think that's supposed to happen... kinda scary! I
am just wondering why that would happen. Yikes!
wihophead said:I doubt it is an inrush current problem especially if it is just a heater that you are controlling. With a heater, like an incandescent light bulb there will be a current spike when you turn it on until the heater warms up which causes the resistance to increase in turn lowering the current. Inductive and capacitive loads are much more likely to cause problems with inrush currents, motors probably being the worst. Do to the fact you had arcs and burning I would say that something is definitely wrong. I would highly recommend you find someone locally that can look at your wiring or at the very least take some detailed picture so maybe someone can help you.....good luck and be safe
My work so far:
Hardware: one 4500 watt 240vac ultra-low density element, two 1 1/2" silicone O-rings (part 1RFG7 from Grainger), one 1" ID 1 1/4" OD stainless steel hex bushing (McMaster 4464K151), one 1 1/4" SS pipe locknut (Grainger 1LUL3), and one 1 1/4" steel locknut from HD (not pictured here, but can be seen below)
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