GFCI for hot tub keeps tripping

[slectrical]

Hi,

My hot tub keeps tripping after 12 years of use. I'm thinking it's the GFCI gone bad. Unfortunately it's a CH 2 pole 50 amp (GFTCB250) and they are on national backorder. The only options I can think of are to put a GFCI in the main panel (Sqaure D) and replace the GFCI at the disconnect with a standard breaker but I'm not sure if that can be done. The other option is to replace the entire disconnect with a new one that has a GFCI. Perhaps something is wrong with the hottub as well but everything had been working until we switched the breaker off to drain the tub. Any thoughts on what can be done?

TIA.

 

[littlespark]

It may not be the gfci. Don’t rule it out though.

Do you have equipment for testing the unit? Do they come with a test button like RCDs in the Uk?
We also have professional test equipment that not only tests that an rcd trips within it’s time limit (standard 40ms) and can also test the threshold of earth fault that it trips at. (A 30mA device can trip at a lot less… ie 20mA)

It may be the tub itself, in which case, the gfci is doing exactly what it’s meant to; cutting off the power so nobody takes a dip in sparkling water.

Do not, under any circumstances, run it without a gfci present.

In UK, my house has 30mA rcd on all socket outlets, and a further 10mA built into the flex for the tub. Double protection.