Spa Panel: Too good to be true?

[Chris7687]

Isn't it just sad and pathetic that we live in such a corrupt and greedy world that we have to worry about this kind of stuff?

 

[CoalCracker]

It is sad...


I received the panel and the reason I believe they are so cheap are they aren't in boxes for one. But I have my suspicions they are refurb. I looked and its a GE breaker. I went online and did some research. Everything they say to look for in a counterfeit unit, wasn't there. So they look legit, just open box items.

 

[MrNatural]

Does the sucka work?

 

[CoalCracker]

I probably won't know for at least another week. I need to have my brother in law come and wire it up.

 

[Chris7687]

CoalCracker,
I got mine yesterday too. I really couldn't tell what to look for in determining if it was counterfit or not. I hope to just use you as a reference. I won't be getting mine hooked up until January sometime. Hope everything runs smoothly for ya. I will report back when I have mine all hooked up too.

 

[CoalCracker]

I got an answer back from the seller. All he said is that he get's them from a US retailer and they are LEGAL, Legit units.

I replied back and voiced my concerns and he said there would be no issues.

 

[rangrr4834]

I got my panel today. Everything looks fine with it. It does appear to be an open box item, does have a GE gfi breaker with all the supporting instructions and stickers from GE inside the panel. After receiving the panel and checking it out, my concerns are minimal at this point.

 

[MrNatural]

I received the panel and the reason I believe they are so cheap are they aren't in boxes for one. But I have my suspicions they are refurb. I looked and its a GE breaker. I went online and did some research. Everything they say to look for in a counterfeit unit, wasn't there. So they look legit, just open box items.

I got my panel today. Everything looks fine with it. It does appear to be an open box item, does have a GE gfi breaker with all the supporting instructions and stickers from GE inside the panel. After receiving the panel and checking it out, my concerns are minimal at this point.

Got it today. Mine looks spanking new. Guessing they tossed original box so it would fit in Flat Rate box.
Priority Mail Flat Rate Medium box is $11.35 to anywhere. If they shipped in, or with, original box, it goes by weight and distance. Could be twice as much.

 

[Dert]

So....

Total price paid?

 

[MrNatural]

so....

Total price paid?

$40

 

[rangrr4834]

I paid $40 total also.

 

[CoalCracker]

Panel is all hooked up and working.

 

[alien]

I have one of these too, possibly from the same seller. I paid about $40. It came boxed and actually has a proper GFCI breaker in it.

 

[Chrisl77]

I bought one of these and just got it wired up today. Needless to say I am having second thoughts about my purchase, its heating the element but pressing the test button does nothing. Any body having issues with theres? I am hoping he just ships me another breaker and doesn't expect me to pay return shipping for a defective item.

 

[CoalCracker]

My test works. You sure its wired 100% correct?

 

[Chrisl77]

Its wired just like in this thread except I have 6/3 feeding it so I have a ground wire going to the ground bar.

 

[Chrisl77]

So a little update the seller already responded back and is sending me a new breaker. I just have to ship the old breaker back when I get the new one.

 

[r8odecay]

Can you share the seller's ID? I'm considering buying one and want to make sure I'm getting the same service i.e. actually responding to emails and the like...

 

[Chrisl77]

Same seller that is linked in the first post. He is suposed to be shipping out a replacement breaker out today i will update if the new one works when i geet it.

 

[Chrisl77]

Here is the update I received the new breaker today and it is working now. The seller is top notch when it comes to customer service.

 

[CoalCracker]

Awesome. Glad everything worked out as planned. I ran my system through a full brew day yesterday and everything worked great!

 

[Chrisl77]

I still need to get the pid's for mine but I did a brew with it as well. I wired it the elements upto a couple double pole 30A switches I had lying around. For 5 gallon batches these 5500 watt elements heat up the water a whole lot faster then my bg14's. Once I get this system complete my next task is to clean up my old propane stand and put it up on the market.

 

[Merzeone]

It appears to. There is nothing saying otherwise. I'm debating on what I want to do. It's a new build so I have plenty of room in my panel for the breaker. However that is a 100 dollar bill for the GFI panel breaker Vs. the price of this spa panel + a 30 amp non GFI breaker. The Spa panel is clearly much cheaper. Just less stream lined.

So you are running a 30amp 220v in your panel to a 50amp spa GFCI ?
Now are these panels just a 2pole switch with ground fault?
or a actual circuit breaker ?
I am getting ready to run cable for a build and was looking at breaker prices and wasnt thrilled.
How is this working out ?

 

[Chris7687]

Hey guys, going to wire everything up here in the next week or two. Putting together my shopping list now. Had a quick question on the wiring and just wanted some confirmation. Can I put a 50A 240V in my main house panel, run 6/3 wire from the house panel to the spa, and then the SPA panel has the GFCI breaker already in it for protection. Then run 10/3 wire from the spa panel to my control panel, correct?

Does anyone have pictures on how they wired it?

 

[MrNatural]

Hey guys, going to wire everything up here in the next week or two. Putting together my shopping list now. Had a quick question on the wiring and just wanted some confirmation. Can I put a 50A 240V in my main house panel, run 6/3 wire from the house panel to the spa, and then the SPA panel has the GFCI breaker already in it for protection. Then run 10/3 wire from the spa panel to my control panel, correct?

Does anyone have pictures on how they wired it?

If you're planning on 50 amp system, you need to use 6/3 with ground from spa panel to control and then you can use 10/3 from there to your elements.
If you're not going to use both elements at same time, you can save some $ going with 30 amp system with 10/3 with ground.

Plenty of examples in this section, just hunt them down.

 

[MachineShopBrewing]

I just ordered one of these for my E-build. I am going to use an already placed and not used 30A dryer outlet. Can I just wire this up with a cord to plug into the dryer outlet and then place a receptacle into the box to run power to the control panel? The dryer outlet was not GFCI already.

Just looked into replacing the current 2 pole breaker that is already in the box for the outlet with a GFCI and they are $100+. How the hell can you get a spa panel so cheap?

 

[Chris7687]

Decided to go with the 10/3, as I am going to need 10/3 wiring for everything else (Spa panel to control box, control box to element).

How many feet of 10/3 did everyone typically use? Also, what bran 30A 2 Pole did everyone use in their main breaker? I think I read somewhere that the breaker in our Spa Panel is GE. Can anyone confirm?

Lastly, is this 10/3 good to use? Does HD or Lowes happen to have it cheaper than $1.20/foot?

 

[Chrisl77]

All the info you need to do that is in this thread including diagrams and pics.

I just ordered one of these for my E-build. I am going to use an already placed and not used 30A dryer outlet. Can I just wire this up with a cord to plug into the dryer outlet and then place a receptacle into the box to run power to the control panel? The dryer outlet was not GFCI already.

Just looked into replacing the current 2 pole breaker that is already in the box for the outlet with a GFCI and they are $100+. How the hell can you get a spa panel so cheap?

 

[John53189]

Good luck with the breakers. In my experience the cheaper ones fail within a year. Usually heat related, feel how hot they get while your brewing.