My GFI keeps tripping!!!

[TonyInVa]

My GFI keeps tripping. My Apex shows that the highest the amps get is 8amps and that is at night when the heater comes on. My GFI outlet is rated at 15amps. It keeps tripping when I am not at home and cant tell when it trips. I do know it is not tripping when the lights come on, because my wife is home at that time. Things are not getting wet, Plugs are plugged in tight. not sure what it could be. Any suggestions? 

[tygger]

Check for a faulty/damaged heater.

[tygger]

Also what is you avg amp draw prior to the heater kicking on? Wouldn't imagine there would be a huge jump depending on what type of lights youre running.

[TonyInVa]

Lights off 3amps. Lights on 4.5 amps. Heater on 7amps. But the GFI is tripping hours after the lights have been on and temp would be higher then that which requires the heater to be on. In fact I will look at the fans because the fans are set to come on at 79 degrees.

[gmerek2]

Put in a new GFI. Had this happen before

[gmerek2]

They go bad

[lowsingle]

Does your tank have a grounding probe?

 

Darren

[RW09903]

Sounds like either faulty GFI or stray voltage from faulty rquipment. Same thing happened to me last year. I thought it was the heater but it was actually my return pump causing the issue. Check all equipment making contact with water. Purchase a grounding probe or two as well.

[dmatt56]

I had a power head cause the same thing happen in my sump. It was leaking electricity into my sump. The cord was frayed after years in there. Heater might also be causing an electrical leak. Be careful. It's probably tripping for a reason.

[mogurnda]

In my experience, there have been a few causes.  Bad ballast or bad powerhead (like Matt) come to mind.  If you have salt crust in a fan, that could be causing a shunt that the GFI is picking up.  If you are using an Apex, shouldn't it tell you when the power goes off?

 

I would be hesitant to blame the GFI until you are sure you don't have a short somewhere.  I would also expect the timing to be more random if the GFI were to blame.  

[Jon Lazar]

Intermittent problems like this are tough to troubleshoot.

 

I would start with all your submerged equipment, as others have suggested.  Wiggle and bend the power cords where they enter the powerhead and see if that trips the GFCI.  Same for the heater.  If you bend the cord and it trips the breaker, it means you found a problem.  It might be your original problem, or it might be a second problem.

 

If fiddling with cords doesn't do anything, I would replace the GFCI.  They can wear out over time and produce nuisance trips for no good reason.

 

Good luck!

[linkfalcon]

Try unplugging one piece of equipment at a time and let it run for a day and when U find the right one replace it if it still happens try the gfi. On of the most annoying problems to have to deal with. With heaters to test I'd just replace the heater sorry idk if this helps

 

 

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[AlanM]

In the past for me it was a T5 ballast that would occasionally trip it in the morning when it turned on.  It's a pain to track down for sure if it happens intermittently.

[TonyInVa]

Thanks for all the input. It was a fan causing the trips.