GFCI & outdoor fountain

11 years ago

We have a pump for our fountain that is plugged into a GFCI. It is the last outlet on the line. It has worked great until a week ago when it stopped working. We plugged the pump cord into an extension cord that was plugged into a non-GFCI outlet and it came on. However when it is plugged into the GFCI, it instantly pops that reset. We have replaced the GFC8 and the same thing happens with the new one. How do we fix this?

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Comments (4)

mike_kaiser_gw
11 years ago
If both the old and new GFCI trip with the pump, then there is likely a problem with the pump. It takes about 5 milliamps to trip a GFCI, which isn't very much. Perhaps there's a minor water leak or something into the pump that's enough to trip the GFCI but not yet high enough to trip the breaker when you tested it without a GFCI in the circuit.
groundrod
11 years ago
how do we fix this? get a new pump.
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Ron Natalie
11 years ago
Inspect the pump and the wiring carefully for any visible damage, but yes, it's most likely going to take a new pump. Oddly these little circulation pumps don't have that tremendous life expectancies.
countryboymo
11 years ago
Be extremely careful around the fountain if it is not gfci protected.