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Thread: GFI / ARC FaultTripping

  1. #1
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    GFI / ARC FaultTripping

    Good afternoon guys,

    So I changed out a standard outlet in my house to a AFCI / GFCI combo about six months ago. The outlet feeds our living room where the tank and Apex live. Lately the new outlet has tripped several times for no obvious reason. Happens when nobody is home and only the tank is running. Small 37 gal setup at the moment. All DC ran through Apex

    I’ve heard other guys say that these things always trip - has anyone else had this experience with GFICs or AFCIs being temperamental?

    I’m in the process of upgrading our tank and will run a new feed only for the tank. Would you recommend a GFI (breaker or inline) as a safety measure? Not sure if the EB832 has any safeguards in place for shorts or fires?

    As always, many thanks!


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  2. #2
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    The main offenders I have seen for GFCIs are some T5 or PC fixtures (they trip on startup if they are the issue really easy to pinpoint), Failing pumps or heaters (these must be replaced if they are adding 10V or more of stray voltage). The other thing that can do it is grounding probes. They only need a miniscule amount of stray voltage to trip a GFCI so I put an inline resistor on mine to keep it from tripping when it shouldnt.

    I personally prefer GFCI outlets vs the circuit breakers because the outage is limited to only the faulted outlet and not an entire branch circuit. Makes troubleshooting easier and turns less stuff off.

    As far as protecting the energy bar, the breakers phase protection and the built in fuse serve that purpose. GFCI protection is there to protect you from shock, not the equipment or wiring.

    You might be an engineer if...You have no life and can prove it mathematically.

  3. #3
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    Thanks! So then the EB does not have a built in GFCI? Didn’t think so but wanted to double check.
    And you’re right, the GFCI is there to protect us from electrocution where as the AFCI would protect the equipment from fire or short. I installed the combo outlet to help protect against both since our tank is in the living room with all our AV equipment.
    I’m just not sure which side of the combo outlet is tripping. I’m thinking it may be the heater since it’s only started happening over the past month or so as the temps have been dropping. It’s fairly new 300W Eheim Jager.
    What resistor did you install on your ground probe?


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  4. #4
    Frequent Contributor zombie's Avatar
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    I think it's a 1000 ohm 25W that was in the scrap pile of a job I was working on. Limits tripping to voltages at or above 20V. 15W is all that is actually necessary to keep it from smoking if it gets full voltage and the GFCI fails to trip.

    You might be an engineer if...You have no life and can prove it mathematically.

  5. #5
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    Was it something like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00C1...6vL&ref=plSrch


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  6. #6
    Frequent Contributor zombie's Avatar
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    That would do the trick. You just splice it in and shrink wrap or tape over it.

    You might be an engineer if...You have no life and can prove it mathematically.

  7. #7
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    Shrink wrap bro! Hate tape. Thanks, I’ll give that a shot.


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