Skimmer pump tripping circuit...why?!

[McPuff]

I've had a Reef Dynamics INS300 for about two months and it was doing awesome. I turned it off for a few hours on Saturday and about an hour after I turned it back on it tripped the circuit. Every time I reset the circuit it would fail again. I isolated the skimmer as the culprit and have been soaking it in vinegar for a day. Hasn't helped yet. No idea what could have changed over a few hours but it is highly irritating. Any ideas what the problem might be? The pump is an Ecoplus 1584.

 

[rc1626]

Pump failure? Possibly the pump has failed allowing water to get in shorting it out. Had this happen to my return pump once. Same as what's happening to you. It was a Danner Mag 12 that I had for quite a few years. Your pump is only a couple months old. Hopefully it is under warranty if it has gone bad. Hope you can resolve the issue without too much of a problem.

 

[lilphil26]

Voltage is somehow getting to ground and pulling enough amps to trip your gfci. (doesnt take much) agreed you have a fault pump

 

[McPuff]

Voltage is somehow getting to ground and pulling enough amps to trip your gfci. (doesnt take much) agreed you have a fault pump

The pump is actually about two years old... still, not very old and this is a bummer for sure. Well, I guess it's time to hit Amazon for a replacement. Thankfully, the price isn't too steep. I may have to buy the 3 year security blanket though...

 

[steallife904]

is your heater running by chance??? if you have a heater running or turning on the same time as the pump it could be pulling to much and tripping.... I do believe though you have a bad pump. I would not test it again at this point! Just get a new one and see what happens

 

[sleepydoc]

You say 'tripping the circuit' - what kind of circuit? Standard 15/20A breaker? GFCI? AFCI?

I've had AFCI breakers get old and glitchy and start tripping at inappropriate times. If there's a short in the pump, it could easily trip a GFCI circuit, or a regular circuit if the current draw is high enough. When you say you've isolated it to the skimmer pump, I assume that means that turning the skimmer on with everything else off still causes the breaker to trip, so it shouldn't be an issue with the heater or other combined current draw exceeding the circuit capacity.

 

[fasteddie68]

It could also be an issue with the GFIC outlet going bad. Once they trip several times they can get ultra sensitive - not sure why but this has happened to me on the GFCI that my lights are plugged into.

To test this I'd put the pump in a water filled 5 gallon bucket and plug it into another GFIC outlet on another circuit like the bathroom or kitchen to see if it still trips. If it trips then your pump is the issue. If it doesn't, but trips the CFCI at your tank, it's probably the GFIC outlet near the tank.

 

[McPuff]

It could also be an issue with the GFIC outlet going bad. Once they trip several times they can get ultra sensitive - not sure why but this has happened to me on the GFCI that my lights are plugged into.

To test this I'd put the pump in a water filled 5 gallon bucket and plug it into another GFIC outlet on another circuit like the bathroom or kitchen to see if it still trips. If it trips then your pump is the issue. If it doesn't, but trips the CFCI at your tank, it's probably the GFIC outlet near the tank.

Yes, I have done this. Tried it on 3 different GFCI outlet boxes (3 different circuits as well)... all tripped after seconds. One even went through a surge protector first. Already ordered the replacement pump and it will arrive tomorrow.

 

[McPuff]

Got the replacement pump. Since it came with stock parts I had to take out the needle wheel and volute from the old pump and transfer over to the new pump. Thankfully both were in excellent condition and work perfectly fine. The only bad thing is that RD slightly modifies pumps so that the 90deg elbow fits perfectly on the output... so the stock pump has a slightly smaller output and the 90 doesn't quite bit snug over the top. As a temporary fix I simply put a rubber band around the output to act as a gasket (the actual gaskets I have were too thick). Works terrific but I will have to figure out a more "permanent" fix as I know the rubber band will likely break at some point. Anyway, the skimmer is working now and I expect to see ample skimmate produced due to the 5 days of inactivity. The display tank, however, has shown no ill effects so that is good.

 

[rc1626]

Glad to hear the new pump is working. Could you possibly find a couple of large "O" rings that will fit snugly over the output that would allow the 90 to then have a nice tight fit. Just a thought.

 

[McPuff]

Glad to hear the new pump is working. Could you possibly find a couple of large "O" rings that will fit snugly over the output that would allow the 90 to then have a nice tight fit. Just a thought.

Yes, that is my plan. Just need to find some thin o-rings which will work very well.