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Bthomas · Feb 19, 2018

Brew12 said:
Do more troubleshooting first.

Plug a light fixture into a powerstrip that is on a non-GFCI circuit. Use your voltage meter to test from the metal housing of the light to ground. Test for AC and DC voltage.

You can also unplug the lights and open the up. They may just need to be cleaned.

They were cleaned out pretty well when we replaced the led panels in them.
What would testing the voltage tell me?

defasum · Feb 19, 2018

Brew12 said:
You have two likely things to check. First, the fan being grounded and causing a legit trip on the GFCI. The second likely cause is that the ground and neutral wiring between the tank and fan is crossed.

Thanks Brew12, so I can check the connections on the ceiling fan and not have to deal with the outlet? I'll get up there sometime this week and have a look. So I need to check and see if the ceiling fan is correctly grounded? Forgive me but I don't know much about electricity wiring.

defasum · Feb 19, 2018

Floyd R Turbo said:
There is no reason to run a ceiling fan on a GFCI. What's likely happening here is that leakage current from the motor winding wiring to the grounded fan frame is causing the trip. The answer is to remove the fan from the load side of the GFCI. This might not be very easy to do. Either you have to pull the GFCI and change the wires coming from the load side over to the line side, or wire the fan to another circuit.

GFCIs have terminals on the back (and screw terminals) so that you can connect the line side (incoming power) to the screw terminals and then another set of wires to the same side. That means that the second set of terminals is also connected to incoming power and thus won't be affected by the GFCI, if that makes sense.

Onle loads that are connected to the load side of the GFCI will be subject to GFCI operation. This way, you can have one GFCI and then several receptacles that are then dependent on it (downstream) or you can "parallel" other receptacles on the incoming side that are not affected by it.

Thanks Floyd,

I have installed GFCI outlets before but the ones I had in the past only had one line coming from the box. This one had a two. so I checked which one had power with a multimeter and installed that one to the line side. Are you saying I could get away with removing the load side connection on the GFCI outlet or install both to the line side?

Turbo's Aquatics · Feb 19, 2018

You can install both on the line side, and then only loads connected to the actual receptacle will be protected.

If you didn't have a GFCI in there before, what they did was just connect the rest of the circuit downstream from the receptacle and in that case, all good. What you did by adding the GFCI into the series chain was protect the previously unprotected ceiling fan.

If you look at most GFCI receptacles, there are load side and line side screw terminals, and then additionally there are holes in the back for load and line side. These are just like push-connect terminals, there's even a wire stripping gauge on the back telling you how much sheath to strip off. So just take the wires that you connected to the load side terminal and cut/strip and insert into the line side push connect, good to go.

I wouldn't have advised that until you told me that it was a plain receptacle before. What that means is that nothing "downstream" from the GFCI was ever intended to be protected, so it doesn't have to be after you put the GFCI in either. If you didn't know that, further research would be needed of course

JROD79 · Feb 19, 2018

The gfci should only protect the tank, all wires should be spliced and placed on the line side of the gfci

defasum · Feb 20, 2018

Just thought I'd give an update and thank the great people here whom are always willing to help.
I rewired my gfci and ran both to the line side. all is working now

JROD79 · Feb 21, 2018

pgr11 said:
Thats what i meant to say was the bubble covers

They are typically called " in-use" covers, because you can have something plugged in while the cover os closed.

JROD79 · Feb 21, 2018

Young Frankenstein said:
Pipe EMT for Electrical Metalic Tubing, is best, MC "Metal Clad cable" is secongand last is ROMEX. I would run separate neutrals and ground, therefore you need a total of 6 wires if you run EMT, if you rum MC or ROMEX run 2x12/2. Some counties allow you to do electrical work, most require a lisenced electrician to either file or do the work, as always I would advice to use caution because electricity can be deadly.

If you are going to snake the wall " meaning fish the electrical lines with in the wall cavity" romex would be the easiest to work with. If you choose romex, it needs to be installed in a way where it is not subject to physical damage. Meaning you can not run it in living space, it would need to be installed witin wall cavities.

Brew12 · Feb 21, 2018

defasum said:
Just thought I'd give an update and thank the great people here whom are always willing to help.
I rewired my gfci and ran both to the line side. all is working now

Just keep in mind that you still have a ceiling fan with a potential issue. Just because it does not need to be on a GFCI means that it is ok for one to trip a GFCI. If the fan is older, you may just need to clean it to remove any electrical tracking to ground. Otherwise, if it were my house, I would change the ceiling fan out with a new one. These kind of issues can start house fires if they track to ground enough which is why there is a push to have everything in a house an combined AFCI/GFCI units.

JROD79 said:
Meaning you can not run it in living space, it would need to be installed witin wall cavities.

It is important to know your local codes. Normally wall cavities are allowed, but in some areas (like at least parts of Indiana) all home wiring must be run within conduit.

Brew12 · Feb 21, 2018

Bthomas said:
They were cleaned out pretty well when we replaced the led panels in them.
What would testing the voltage tell me?

It would tell you if the problem is on the AC or DC side of the light fixture. That would help you determine what your options are to either fix these fixtures or for replacement.

I have very limited time this week but I can help with this more next week if you still need help.

JROD79 · Feb 21, 2018

Brew12 said:
Just keep in mind that you still have a ceiling fan with a potential issue. Just because it does not need to be on a GFCI means that it is ok for one to trip a GFCI. If the fan is older, you may just need to clean it to remove any electrical tracking to ground. Otherwise, if it were my house, I would change the ceiling fan out with a new one. These kind of issues can start house fires if they track to ground enough which is why there is a push to have everything in a house an combined AFCI/GFCI units.

It is important to know your local codes. Normally wall cavities are allowed, but in some areas (like at least parts of Indiana) all home wiring must be run within conduit.

I only know typical wiring of the National Electrical Code, but this is correct each and every state or town may have their own code for their jurisdiction. Great point! You should check with your local builing department to see if they have any paticular codes you should follow as a general question. Chances are they may allow you to do the work but may want the permit fees to inspect such work.

Clownfish2 · Feb 28, 2018

Brew12,

Recently I installed 2 GFCIs near my 110 gal tank. These GFCIs are on separate circuit breakers. I put half the electrical devices on GFCI #1 and the other half of devices on GFCI #2.

If a heater or pump leaks voltage on GFCI #1, would this voltage trip both GFCIs or only GFCI #1?

Brew12 · Feb 28, 2018

Clownfish2 said:
Brew12,

Recently I installed 2 GFCIs near my 110 gal tank. These GFCIs are on separate circuit breakers. I put half the electrical devices on GFCI #1 and the other half of devices on GFCI #2.

If a heater or pump leaks voltage on GFCI #1, would this voltage trip both GFCIs or only GFCI #1?

It will only trip the GFCI that it is plugged into.

Bashful664 · Mar 1, 2018

Are you still around for help? I have a very strange issue going on with my electric and have to get it fixed before we can get our tank.

Bashful664 · Mar 1, 2018

Are you still around for help? I have a very strange electrical issue happening that has to be fixed before we can install our tank. Thanks Sorry for the double post, can't figure out how to delete this one.

Brew12 · Mar 1, 2018

Bashful664 said:
Are you still around for help? I have a very strange electrical issue happening that has to be fixed before we can install our tank. Thanks Sorry for the double post, can't figure out how to delete this one.

I can't help with the double post, but what electrical issue are you having?

pdisner · Mar 1, 2018

Hi everyone. Who is the electrician here ? I have a non-reef related question. Can I ask it here or only related info.

Brew12 · Mar 1, 2018

pdisner said:
Hi everyone. Who is the electrician here ? I have a non-reef related question. Can I ask it here or only related info.

Ask away! There are a few of us with electrical knowledge that keep up with this thread.

pdisner · Mar 1, 2018

Ok. Here we go. I installed a simple overhead light with a dedicated switch. The lights work sporadically and I have double checked everything and I have used a multi meter to check for power. I redid the connections and reposition the lights on the track. What do u think?

Brew12 · Mar 1, 2018

pdisner said:
Ok. Here we go. I installed a simple overhead light with a dedicated switch. The lights work sporadically and I have double checked everything and I have used a multi meter to check for power. I redid the connections and reposition the lights on the track. What do u think?

To make sure I am clear. You started at a point with a hot and a neutral. You ran the hot through a switch to the lights. You ran the neutral directly back to the source. Correct?

When you say it works sporadically, what exactly do you mean? Does it flicker? Does it light for a period of time then stop, then restart again?