Wiring advice needed for pump toolbox issue

I was wiring up my pump toolbox last night and ran into a snag I can't figure out. I want power coming into the outlet so it's always hot and have the outlet supply power (and GFCI protection) to the switch which will operate the pump. When supplying power to the setup, all seems fine on the outlet. When turning the pump on however, the GFCI immediately trips. I can see the fan on the pump move slightly when this happens. When checking my wiring with one of those three light outlet testers, it says everything is wired correctly.

Pics below of the outlet and switch and wiring. Orange wire coming into the box is the extension cord supplying the power. The black coming in is the pump.

What I did:

• Ext cord hot is connected to the line side of the GFCI outlet brass screw
• All whites are wirenutted and a pig tail is going to the GFCI line side silver screw
• A black wire connects the GFCI load brass screw to the bottom brass screw on the switch
• The pump hot is connected to the switched (top) brass screw on the switch
• All greens are wirenutted and two pigtails come out connecting to both the GFCI and the switch.

Since there is no white connected to the load side of the GFCI, I tried pigtailing another white and connecting it. This immediately trips the outlet once power is supplied (even with the switch off). The only other thing I can think of is that I maybe shouldn't have a ground on the switch pigtailed in and that maybe this is causing a ground fault?

I'm at work today scratching my head. Any suggestions or insight here?

With this configuration, you still have unprotected voltage at the toolbox. I would ditch the GFCI switch, get an in-line ground fault interrupter and put it before your extension cord.

The neutral from your power in cord goes to the GFCI outlet and no where else.

Your neutral for the pump goes to the load side of the GFCI outlet.

The way you have it wired in the picture, your neutral current is bypassing the GFCI and causing it to trip.

P-J said:

The neutral from your power in cord goes to the GFCI outlet and no where else. Your neutral for the pump goes to the load side of the GFCI outlet. The way you have it wired in the picture, your neutral current is bypassing the GFCI and causing it to trip.

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Ahhhhh!!! That makes sense. THANK YOU!

mikeal said:

With this configuration, you still have unprotected voltage at the toolbox. I would ditch the GFCI switch, get an in-line ground fault interrupter and put it before your extension cord.

Click to expand...

Thanks so much, however I'm not sure I understand the difference between the in-line you suggest and the GFCI outlet provided protection. I did some searching and found this OSHA site which talks about a "no-voltage release device" but I'm unclear what this is / does.

As a side note, the picture on the site has to be one of the best unintentionally funny pics. It certainly does look like the guy is handling wood... LOL

Following up, I may have answered my own question on the purpose of the no-voltage release device here however I'm not sure I see the safety risk in my application. I guess if power goes out and I have something dangerous plugged into the toolbox (ie table saw) it could come back on unexpectedly once power does creating a risk, but I can't think of a brewing scenario where I'd be in this type of situation. Am I missing something? The only thing I can think of would be where the power goes out while pumping boiling water / wort and I then decide to disconnect a hose and the power comes back on spraying me somehow.

BTW - I'm not trying to be oppositional (or cheap), just trying to understand the need.

If the power cord to the wall goes to the toolbox with the pump, then you still have live voltage in the toolbox no matter what the GFCI in the plug does. If you put it inline instead, it will protect you from a short anywhere in your setup. Home Depot has them cheaper than Amazon. I just linked to the first one I saw.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Simple question, and I feel bad trying to get P-J in here (i bug him way too much) but how would one simply wire in a GFCI outlet with toggle switch. I would like to plug my pump into the gfci outlet but have a manual on/off switch (if this is even possible) as follows wall outlet > power receptacle mounted in box > GFCI outlet > march pump with toggle switch

this is what I am thinking. From the receptacle, the neutral to the line side of the GFCI outlet. The power line goes to the toggle switch, then from the toggle switch to the line side of the GFCI. Ground to GFCI outlet. When the switch is on, the GFCI is active, powering the outlets. When the switch is off everything is dead. Nothing connected to the load of the GFCI