How Many Gfcis Should I Have?

[chk57]

Had some work done to the spa lately and not sure if I really trust the guy that worked on it 100%. At least his memory is bad.

I have two panels in my garage...one for regular house...one for the 220 stuff including SPA, and the circuit breaker has a GFCI as part of it. THEN, I have another 'panel' thing near the hot tub with breakers for the hot tub, and another GFCI thing. How many of those do I need?

Spa guy says the one in the spa panel needs replacing...says it may have been causing an issue with my spa's heater basically never turning off.

First time he was here he looked at the one in the main panel and said I was all good. Now he says that other one needs to be replaced for fear of electrocution.

Thanks in advance.

[chk57]

If a moderator could move this to the appropriate forum, it would be appreciated. Just noticed I'm in the "portable" hot tubs and spas

[Spa_Guru]

Your electrician is out of his depth.

GFIs either function, or the don't, they don't reach out and play with your heater.

[Spa_Guru]

To answer your question, you need one GFCI breaker for your spa, the one in the garage can be standard 240v, the one outside is required by NEC regs.

[PreservedSwine]

2nd that... GFCI breakers have nothing to do with a heater that "won't turn off." You only need one GFCI on the spa circuit, but NEC requires a "disconnect" accessible where the spa is located. The disconnect does not need to be GFCI protected, but most use a GFCI sub panel in the disconnect, and a regular breaker (non-gfci) in their main panel of the house.

Perhaps there is a miscommunication between what he told you, and what you heard?

[Dr. Spa]

The way I read this, he's got two panels in his garage. One of the panels has a GFCI MAIN breaker feeding it, and then powers ALL 220v appliances in his home (I would imagine there's individual breakers then feeding each appliance... stove, dryer, air conditioner, spa etc.).