I’m a brand new above ground pool owner, and per local regs, I had an outlet installed near our pool to run the pump/filter. It’s a GFCI receptacle that goes to its own dedicated breaker. There are no other outlets connected and the only thing it supplies power to is the pump. Everything is “weather resistant.” The 12/3 wire is in conduit and buried. After 1 week, the first gfci receptacle stopped working. It tripped, wouldn’t reset, and it’s end of life indicator light was flashing red. Thinking perhaps it was a defective receptacle, I bought a new, 20 amp, gfci receptacle and installed it yesterday. After installation and testing, everything was working great! The pool pump was humming along. It ran for hours, but at some point overnight, the receptacle tripped and the pump shut off. My bf noticed that this morning, reset the receptacle, and it started working again. At this point, I don’t know if it’s the receptacles or the pump, or if there’s something else I might be missing. It’s worth noting that, while everything is weather resistant and rated for outdoor use, it’s rained pretty much every day for the last several weeks, including yesterday and last night. Is it possible it’s moisture? I know gfcis are pretty sensitive to that. If that’s the cause, what can I do about it? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, including how to check the pump to see if that’s the issue. It’s a brand new pump, but I know that doesn’t alwasy mean anything.
Hi,
Is there a cover over your GFCI outlet? Something similar to this?
With all the rain you’re having moisture could be a possibility.
Yes, something almost exactly like that. I noticed that, even on a day it hadn’t rained, but was humid, there was condensation inside the plastic cover. Is there something I can do to prevent moisture build up? Do I need that cover? The receptacle itself is supposed to be weather resistant.
That cover protects the socket from direct contact with rain. If it is outdoor rated then it should be able to withstand the standard humidity and condensation. Did you all install the outlet yourselves or have a professional installer do it? One way you could isolate whether it’s the pump or the socket would be to temporarily run a heavy duty outdoor extension cord to your pump from a different outlet. If the breaker trips then it’s most likely the motor. If the GFCI was installed by a professional recently the best course of action would be to contact them to troubleshoot the problem.
The original setup was installed by a professional. I replaced the gfci receptacle myself yesterday. I was originally running the pump, with an extension cord, to an outdoor outlet that is connected to a gfi breaker and it was fine. I only did that for 1 day, though, and it was when I started the pump for the first time. Not sure if that means the pump could have developed a problem since then. I’m going to talk to the guy who installed everything and find out if he has any ideas as to what might be the cause.
I haven’t had any more issues. Fingers crossed it was a fluke.
Newtothis,
Thats great news, we are keeping our fingers crossed that there are no more issues.
Thank You
Patrick
I have a Digital Nano Pool pilot connected to PentAire Easy Touch system.
We live in humid wet Florida.
The breaker in the Easy Touch is highly suseptable to moisture and trips when the pump is turned on. When it stays dry, works great.
Any suggestions on how to remedy the moisture suseptability? I have unsuccessfully tried to seal potential accesses to the circuitry,.
Thanks