Hot Tub Tripping Breaker

[Alishann]

Hello!

I recently had an electrician change out my gfi cord to a longer one on my hot tub. Since we have done this, we cannot run any other high wattage item (vacuum, electric smoker etc) on that breaker without it tripping.  Could the cord change have caused this?  Do I need to have the original shorter cord put back on, or is there another possible fix? Thanks for your insight!!

[Cusser]

That new GFCI cord might be more sensitive than the previous one.  Do you mean the GFCI trips, or the breaker in the breaker box trips?

Why did you need a longer GFCI cord if yours was reaching before? 

I think the real issue is that you are not on a dedicated circuit for the hot tub (I know, some folks get away with just plugging in on the patio).  I even installed a new 20-amp breaker into my breaker box and ran a complete dedicated line for my 110 VAC above ground pool.

 

[Alishann]

Yeah the box trips. We moved to a new house and I needed the cord to be longer at the new location. What was the approx cost involved in the dedicated breaker, may see about doing that!

[Cusser]

I installed the dedicated 20-amp breaker and the wires through plastic conduit along the wall to the backyard pool, then added a GFCI receptacle there (which you probably won't need because you have 1 or 2 GFCI cords).  Cost will be dependent upon how long the distance is from the breaker box.  I might estimate about $200 for an electrician, just a wild guess, but easy job for such.

For my 220 VAC spa: in 1988 a professional electrician installed two new breakers into the box, ran the wires up to attic through conduit, across the entire house, then down through conduit and wired to the spa (that cost about $200 in 1988 dollars).  A decade later I added a GFCI breaker inside the cabinet myself, didn't have one back in 1988.