GFCI Score

While I am waiting for my PID, SSR and Thermocoupler to arrive, I went to Home Depot to pick up a Project Box to house the brains for my forthcoming electric keggle. I was planning on ordering a GFCI breaker online, because I can't find one reasonably priced, but lo and behold on the shelf at HD, there was a 50 amp GFCI Hot Tub panel marked down from $75 to $24.

That is an awesome deal!

Wow. In Canada, the Spa Buddy breaker & box is $221, while the breaker that I need (40A GFCI) is $250.

Thankfully, I've found one 3 hours away for $75...

I was going to use 10-gauge wire with a 30 amp breaker, but now I will need to go with 6-gauge. I'll have to sweet talk the Maintenance Mgr at work this week for some cast-offs from equipment moves.

I am still looking for my GFCI deal and cant even find a GFCI to work with my main panel.

On your setup are you plugging the jacuzzi GFCI directly into your main panel or are you running it out of a Dryer or other outlet? If you run out of a dryer outlet do you need to up the wire gauge, or does the CB in the panel protect the wires, equip, etc and the GFCI protect your life?

Photopilot said:

I am still looking for my GFCI deal and cant even find a GFCI to work with my main panel.

On your setup are you plugging the jacuzzi GFCI directly into your main panel or are you running it out of a Dryer or other outlet? If you run out of a dryer outlet do you need to up the wire gauge, or does the CB in the panel protect the wires, equip, etc and the GFCI protect your life?

Click to expand...

Current plans are to run it out of a dryer outlet, so that I can retain portability for a couple of different brew locations. I am going to check with someone more knowledgable than I today on letting the CB in the main protect the wires/equip and utilizing the GFCI for leak detection. I will post tonight on what his thoughts are.

Bullbythehorns said:

Current plans are to run it out of a dryer outlet, so that I can retain portability for a couple of different brew locations. I am going to check with someone more knowledgable than I today on letting the CB in the main protect the wires/equip and utilizing the GFCI for leak detection. I will post tonight on what his thoughts are.

Click to expand...

You should be fine. Just make sure you are using the right gauge wire. Also I think you need to make sure the dryer outlet has a neutral. Even if you were hard wiring the the spa panel. You would need to run the neutral to the bus in the panel. Even if you are not using the neutral on the load side of the spa breaker.

I have installed a bunch of Hot Tubs when I was an electrician. We always just directly wired the spa disconnect/breaker directly to a breaker in the panel. You should be fine putting a plug on the end and plugging it into a receptacle. You will be protected from the breaker in the spa disconnect.

I believe the spa panel that he bought, is the same one that i bought. I had the same issue with not being able to find a GFCI breaker for my panel (pushmatic). You should be able to feed the panel with whatever breaker you want, ( make sure to use 4 wires). then, whatever you wire after the GFCI breaker, will be protected.

I am going a step further, and am going to feed a subpanel with a 100 amp breaker, and then, I am going to feed 2 separate spa panels with the 2 GFCI breakers that came with them. This way, i have 2 separate spa panels that are protected. Each spa panel will have a 30 amp and a 20 amp breaker to feed an element, and the pump, and PID

I also went this route for my GFCI breaker subpanel/remote box for my 240V brew kettle setup. Dryer outlet to subpanel to brewing control box to water heater element in a keg. Just did a test run with water this weekend and it went really well. I used this website as a reference:

http://www.spadepot.com/spacyclopedia/wiring-hot-tub-spa.htm

Scroll down and click 3-wire or 4-wire depending on whether or not you want to run the neutral from the subpanel to your brewing control box. Since I'm not splitting off any 120V for use in the brewing control box, I didn't run the neutral between the two. But as Brewmoor mentioned, you still need to run the neutral from the wall (or 4-wire dryer outlet on the wall in my case) to the subpanel for the GFCI breaker white wire. Do not connect the neutral wire and the ground wire in this subpanel or your control box. They should remain separate outside of your main breaker box.



I have a 30A breaker in the main box and a 50A GFCI breaker in the subpanel. I went with 10-gauge wire all the way.

In hindsight it would have been easier and cheaper to go with one of the inline GFCI breaker extension cord setups, but I'm happy with the current arrangement.

Use a multimeter to check and recheck all of your wiring before firing it up for the first time.

Thanks to all for the input. I checked with my bud who is an electrical engineer and he also said no problem running a 30A main with the 50A GFCI inline for the protection. He offered to come help me wire it up, what a relief, to learn from a pro. Pretty nice to get friends involved with the hobby, plus he likes the dry irish stout I usually have on tap.

I have sold him some calves in the past that he runs on his acreage for his own butchering, I think he likes my purpose in life of providing Steak and Ale. I got the keggle drilled and the element installed tonight. Now for the auberins order to arrive and I might have another brew fermenting by the weekend.