00W's AIO Smorgasbord

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Been running like this for over a year. Then past week has tripped 4 times. So you’re thinking new breaker?

If nothing has changed, and you said it's drawing like 1,100w? That's roughly 9 amps and a 20amp breaker should not be tripping at that current. That said, if you have a different surge protector to use temporarily, the load center might have a bad connection inside it tripping the arc fault. Maybe start with that. Bypass the load center and if it stops tripping boom. You have your answer. If it keeps tripping, I'd lean more towards the breaker

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Do you have a regular power strip with a GFCI on it? I'd swap the regular power strip out with the little white one and see if that helps. I don't know what brand the little one is, but that could be your culprit especially if it's tripping the breaker. The GFCI is meant to trip before the breaker.

The gfci won't trip a breaker. Unless it was a gfci breaker. 2 gfci on one circuit is a no-no as it will nuisance trip

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

White push button is typically a ARC fault breaker especially on a square D breaker. Purple (if I remember correctly) is arc fault gfci combo. So that said, I don't think your gfci is tripping the actual breaker

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Welcome @eymi! Happy to have you here!

 

[Üter]

You can keep it that way, but I like to have some sort of a GFCI with anything around water. Your power hub has a surge protector which will protect the equipment plugged into from a power surge. A GFCI protects you from being shocked if there is water and you are the ground, if that makes sense.
You could also try a different GFCI. Again, I don't know the brand you use, but maybe a "better model"??
Although a bit pricey. The Tripp lite power strips have a GFCI.

https://a.co/d/1RO9ZYD

a little spark wouldn't bother me at this point as long as no one else gets sizzled.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

a little spark wouldn't bother me at this point as long as no one else gets sizzled.

:zipper-mouth-face: im an electrician and don't have any gfci on my system.... I probably should, but...

 

[Rocks reef]

The gfci won't trip a breaker. Unless it was a gfci breaker. 2 gfci on one circuit is a no-no as it will nuisance trip

Wonder if that's what's tripping it? His power hub has a surge protector that was plugged into a GFCI at the outlet.

 

[00W]

lost my dad....tank well has a few aiptasia but things are growing good...zoa' have doubled and the few sps have begun to grow,,,,today is kill the wabbit hahhah I mean aiptasia...got a few pep shrimps yesterday...gonna go look for a copper band...

Sorry my friend....

 

[00W]

Lunch....

 

[Üter]

White push button is typically a ARC fault breaker especially on a square D breaker. Purple (if I remember correctly) is arc fault gfci combo. So that said, I don't think your gfci is tripping the actual breaker

so then just a new hub or power strip? the last time I lost the hub I was home. plugged everything into the UPS till the new one came in the mail. the UPS part though I only want the main pump in. so that runs for like 2 hours which gives me time to hook up the generator or hope it's only a brief outage. I looked into a whole house gen and I wanted a Kohler 2600. Quoted $18k. um, no.

 

[Rocks reef]

:zipper-mouth-face: im an electrician and don't have any gfci on my system.... I probably should, but...

Yeah, well, I'm not...LOL! Glad you chimed in. I know enough to shock myself, but that's about it.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Wonder if that's what's tripping it? His power hub has a surge protector that was plugged into a GFCI at the outlet.

The gfci would nuisance trip another gfci but the breaker would hold. @BubblesandSqueak it is the actual breaker, in your electrical panel, and not the gfci tripping, correct?

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

so then just a new hub or power strip? the last time I lost the hub I was home. plugged everything into the UPS till the new one came in the mail. the UPS part though I only want the main pump in. so that runs for like 2 hours which gives me time to hook up the generator or hope it's only a brief outage. I looked into a whole house gen and I wanted a Kohler 2600. Quoted $18k. um, no.

For testing purposes, do you have a power strip you can plug into? There's still a real chance your load center is perfectly fine. That said, if you did order one, and it doesn't fix the problem, you'd have a spare in case your load center fails again.

 

[Üter]

Lunch....

pastrami or really thick bacon?

 

[Üter]

The gfci would nuisance trip another gfci but the breaker would hold. @BubblesandSqueak it is the actual breaker, in your electrical panel, and not the gfci tripping, correct?

yes. the red circled breaker 20a is what has been tripping.

 

[Üter]

For testing purposes, do you have a power strip you can plug into? There's still a real chance your load center is perfectly fine. That said, if you did order one, and it doesn't fix the problem, you'd have a spare in case your load center fails again.

I was thinking of running down to Wallyworld or HD/Lowes and pick up a power strip. I had a nice Monster one for the TV setup but since I'm hanging on the wall, I gave it to my father. I could plug a couple things into the non UPS side of the APC but the brick plugs wipe out 3 outlets typically. I can't seem to find my amp meter either. I thought it would be useful to check the titanium heaters. I did clean them today. but typically they would get an error on the helio controller.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

yes. the red circled breaker 20a is what has been tripping.

So either your breaker is bad and is nuisance tripping, something is arcing and it's sensing that and tripping, or somethings kicking on and sending it over the rated ampacity of the breaker. If your confident your full load is in the 1100w range we can rule that out and narrow it down to either somethings arcing or the breakers defective.

 

[tharbin]

so who's knowledgable with electrics? I have everything except my main pump plugged into this power hub. The power hub is plugged into a GFCI into the outlet and attached to the red circled breaker. the breaker trips everyone in a while. nothing else is on this circuit. is this because it's a ARC and the other is GFCI? (At Least I think that might be Arc) I think one of these is the current issue. I only have about 1100 watts on this circuit when it's all on. That GFCI has never tripped. twice the power hub has tripped and the rest it;s the main breaker. This is my second power hub because the first suddenly no longer worked. so I suspect that's the real issue right now.

Should I just get a regular power strip and plug it into the GFCI instead of the power hub?
I don't have the capability of hooking up a new line.

The mighty jet is plugged into a UPS and is not on the GFCI.

MightyJet - 85W
Sicce 5.0 - 105W
Helio Heaters - 700W
AI Hydra - 90W
2 MP40 (38W) - 76W
ATO Tunze 3155 - wattage?

how should I redo this?

Have you tested the GFCI adapter?

What is the rating on your GFCI and your power hub?

It seems that the power hub is probably rated at 15 amps and the GFCI probably is as well. You have a 20 amp breaker so the only way that I can see that it would blow first, on an isolated circuit, would be a substantial overload that should take out the power hub or GFCI long before the breaker. My guess is a problem with the GFCI itself tripping the breaker.

Hit send to soon... or the breaker itself is failing. I doubt it is the power strip or your equipment.

 

[00W]

Everyone having a good day?
Got the patio at home cleaned up before it rains again.
Still only in the 40's but I can see spring somewhere out there....

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

I was thinking of running down to Wallyworld or HD/Lowes and pick up a power strip. I had a nice Monster one for the TV setup but since I'm hanging on the wall, I gave it to my father. I could plug a couple things into the non UPS side of the APC but the brick plugs wipe out 3 outlets typically. I can't seem to find my amp meter either. I thought it would be useful to check the titanium heaters. I did clean them today. but typically they would get an error on the helio controller.

The heaters being controlled by the heater are another possible option. That controller assumedly has a set of contacts. If those get worn out or damaged,(they snap on and off constantly all the time) theoretically it could be arcing a little when it engages. What you could try is plugging the controller into an outlet that you know is on a different circuit. Better yet, another circuit with an arc fault breaker. If you do and then the other circuit starts tripping you'll know it's the controller/heater. If that doesn't fix the problem and after removing the controller the original circuit keeps tripping, try the surge protector. That's how I would handle it