Spa Panel
- Thread starter tch1980
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
iijakii
Well-Known Member
The spa panel is simply a cheapish means to GFCI protection when you don't have a GFCI breaker. You'll still need proper grounding, correct wiring and wire sizing etc.
It depends on your setup. If you get the commonly available 50amp Spa Panel with GFI, but are running a 30amp setup, you will want a 30amp setup in your main breaker box. The 50 will cover the GFI and the 30 will cover the over-amperage. This is up to code (from my understanding) as long as the Spa Panel is not permanently wired in.
That being said, I'm not an electrician and I'm sure others will confirm or deny.
BadNewsBrewery
Well-Known Member
There are two aspects to look at here. 1 - GFCI - The GFCI (spa panel in many instances) is just there to provide Ground Fault Circuit Interrupt protection to the wiring. The amp rating must be at or above the rating for your overall setup.
2 - circuit protection (breakers). The breaker is there to protect the wiring from bursting into flames and burning your house down. Wiring is rated to handle a certain amperage based on its size (gauge) and configuration (solid vs stranded), and a few other things. If you were to pump super high currents through super small wire, it wouldn't handle it, and it would get hot, melt, smoke, and or burst into flames - none of these are good things. The circuit breaker is therefore rated to match the wire size, and the circuit breaker is designed to trip before any of those previously mentioned bad things happen. If your circuit breaker is rated for X, then your wiring must be rated for X or higher.
In e-brewing, we typically have a breaker at our supply, say a 50a breaker. We then run heavy gauge wire rated to handle 50a to a spa panel that is rated at 50a or better, and then run that heavy gauge wire to our control panel. (Note, if you decide to install a GFCI rated breaker in your main breaker panel, then you don't need the SPA panel... but some how a spa panel [which contains a GFCI breaker] is notably cheaper than a GFCI breaker on its own).
Once at the panel, many people opt to run that heavy gauge wire to a distribution point, and then use smaller gauge wire within the panel - this is done to save money, to make wire runs easier, and because it just makes sense. "But BadNewsBrewery, you said the wiring should be rated the same or better than the breaker - how can we use smaller wiring?" Some would say you just do it and hope for the best, some would say it's totally allowable by code... I would argue a little safety in this instance, like many do, and install a few smaller breakers, such as the DIN mountable breakers a lot of us run. Then you can drop down to a 5, 10, or 15 amp breaker, which will then protect the smaller gauge wiring running around inside your panel. This way if your PID decides to crap out and causes some sort of short that the GFCI doesn't pick up, the smaller rated breakers will pop before the wiring melts. Without them, your small gauge wire will melt long before the big 50a breaker at your main supply trips.
I know this is long, but I hope it helps you wrap your head around it and the reasoning behind why we do what we do.
-Kevin
2 - circuit protection (breakers). The breaker is there to protect the wiring from bursting into flames and burning your house down. Wiring is rated to handle a certain amperage based on its size (gauge) and configuration (solid vs stranded), and a few other things. If you were to pump super high currents through super small wire, it wouldn't handle it, and it would get hot, melt, smoke, and or burst into flames - none of these are good things. The circuit breaker is therefore rated to match the wire size, and the circuit breaker is designed to trip before any of those previously mentioned bad things happen. If your circuit breaker is rated for X, then your wiring must be rated for X or higher.
In e-brewing, we typically have a breaker at our supply, say a 50a breaker. We then run heavy gauge wire rated to handle 50a to a spa panel that is rated at 50a or better, and then run that heavy gauge wire to our control panel. (Note, if you decide to install a GFCI rated breaker in your main breaker panel, then you don't need the SPA panel... but some how a spa panel [which contains a GFCI breaker] is notably cheaper than a GFCI breaker on its own).
Once at the panel, many people opt to run that heavy gauge wire to a distribution point, and then use smaller gauge wire within the panel - this is done to save money, to make wire runs easier, and because it just makes sense. "But BadNewsBrewery, you said the wiring should be rated the same or better than the breaker - how can we use smaller wiring?" Some would say you just do it and hope for the best, some would say it's totally allowable by code... I would argue a little safety in this instance, like many do, and install a few smaller breakers, such as the DIN mountable breakers a lot of us run. Then you can drop down to a 5, 10, or 15 amp breaker, which will then protect the smaller gauge wiring running around inside your panel. This way if your PID decides to crap out and causes some sort of short that the GFCI doesn't pick up, the smaller rated breakers will pop before the wiring melts. Without them, your small gauge wire will melt long before the big 50a breaker at your main supply trips.
I know this is long, but I hope it helps you wrap your head around it and the reasoning behind why we do what we do.
-Kevin
Similar threads
