Doug Miller wrote:
In article , wrote:
Our basement flooded with about 1" of water in the unfinished area
(concrete) and most of the carpeted area wet. This was after a lot of
rain and melting snow in the last few days in Detroit. Turned out the
breaker on the sump pump outlet had tripped and caused it to stop
pumping.
Just one question: when you say "the breaker on the sump pump outlet", do you
mean the breaker for the CIRCUIT that the sump pump outlet is on? Or do you
mean a ground fault circuit interrupter outlet that the sump pump plugs into?
If the former... ignore the rest of my post. You've gotten good advice from
other people who have responded.
If the latter... shut off the breaker, replace the GFCI outlet with a standard
outlet, and turn the breaker back on. Sump pumps should NOT be on
GFCI-protected outlets.
Doug
I'm not trying to troll or be quarrelsome when I say that there is no
exception for sump pumps in the code requirement for all outlets in
unfinished portions of basements to be GFCI protected. If it is an
unfinished basement then the outlet must be GFCI protected. If the GFCI
trips then there is a five milliampere or greater current leak in the
pump, it's cord, or controls. If the pump cannot pass winding integrity
testing then replace it. I can't think of many deadlier scenarios then
somebody on there knees on a conductive concrete floor trying to clear
out the intake of a sump pump while the pump has a case fault. Yes I
know; if the Equipment Grounding Conductor of the circuit is intact and
has a low enough resistance, and the fault is delivering enough current
to trip the circuits Over Current Protective Device (OCPD), and the OCPD
is working properly... The basic theory of personnel safety is that it
should take at least two failures to put someone in jeopardy of serious
injury. The more failures it takes to jeopardize someone the better.
Leave the GFCI in the circuit and test it at least monthly.
--
Tom Horne
"This alternating current stuff is just a fad. It is much too dangerous
for general use." Thomas Alva Edison