john206 Posted February 23, 2022 Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 Hello, have a 2003 Sundance Altimar spa, 240V 2-wire plus ground (no neutral). Pretty good lifespan eh? I recently rewired to a cuttoff panel (not the disconnect with GFCI) because dog managed to pull conduit off and damage wiring, that was a close one, whew. All 6 guage. But I noticed with my new TRMS clamp multi-meter, that there is current in the ground wire! I've got 0.95A with circulator and heater on, 1.42A with both pumps on, and a Max "infill" spike of 2.29A. Shouldn't my GFCI be tripping like crazy?? The trip button on it does work. How should I diagnose further? I haven't ever felt a shock. Voltage difference between tub water and ground at the panel bonding lug is 0.182V which requires "LowZ" setting to read or I just read variable 'ghost' voltage. The blower hasn't been working in years and I don't care for it anyway so I did just unplug its wiring at the panel as a try at diagnosing. No difference. I don't have any other bonding rods etc other than the original for the house. I suppose I should look what current there may be in the mains ground (but of course thats bonded with Neutral at the main panel as usual). Thanks for any advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john206 Posted February 23, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 BTW, I also cleaned out the tub internal electrical panel with compressed air and a soft brush to get rid of dead bug spider stuff, examined its wiring, looks good to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDspaguy Posted February 23, 2022 Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 The controls operate off of the low voltage side of a transformer and are grounded. Since there is no physical connection between the 2 circuits in a transformer, the low voltage will not trip a gfci. The gfci does not detect current on the ground, it detects a difference in current between the hots and neutral. I would verify neutral and ground continuity to panel, just to be sure, but doubt there is any issue. If you put your amp clamp on the incoming power wires you should find that red (L2)+white (neutral)=black (L1). If it does not the gfci should trip. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john206 Posted February 23, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 Quote The controls operate off of the low voltage side of a transformer and are grounded. Since there is no physical connection between the 2 circuits in a transformer, the low voltage will not trip a gfci. The gfci does not detect current on the ground, it detects a difference in current between the hots and neutral. I would verify neutral and ground continuity to panel, just to be sure, but doubt there is any issue. If you put your amp clamp on the incoming power wires you should find that red (L2)+white (neutral)=black (L1). If it does not the gfci should trip. Thanks. I wonder then if the small current I detect on the ground then is the transformer grounding? Should I be concerned? Yes L1 and L2 are the same amps so then the GFCI won't see a difference. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDspaguy Posted February 24, 2022 Report Share Posted February 24, 2022 Nothing to worry about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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