In ,
Deodiaus typed:
I have a Wayne 57711-LWS1 pump.
Item 252798 at Lowe's,
from 7/10.
It keeps throwing the GFI and shuts down the electricity.
How can I find out if it is a minor problem (minor
electrical leakage) or enough to hurt someone (aside from
sticking my hand in)? Is there a simple test, e.g hook
up a probe?
Are sump pumps made to be operating in a enclosed water
tight compartment? I ask because the pump has a drainage
hole on the side, which perhaps is there only for
draining out water once it gets inside.

I never did a cross-section cut or anything to find out, but that little
hole appears to be to let oil, which surrounds the pump components, run out.
I had a uniit once which started popping the gfci. I was going to check
to see if there was any voltage on the case of the pump to ground by
plugging it into a non-gfci outlet. Well, I didn't get to measure anything
because it promptly opened the breaker upstairs in the box. Thus, in this
case, the gfci had done its job. When I pulled the pump up out of the water,
ol was leaking from that small hole in a fair stream. After a few minutes it
turned to water so I assume water had gotten into the motor workings.
That's the only time I ever had a gfci open up the ckt.


A sump pump, when powered by a dedicated line with no other components on
that line, as instructed on every packaging I've ever seen, will not pop a
gfci when there is no fault condtiion. Large inductances can sometimes make
a gfci pop because of the out of phase current/voltage, but sump pumps seem
to be designed such that a back-emf doesn't occur and look like a faul to
the gfci. Rotor lock or partial lock however could achieve a gfci popping
open so remember to inspect the impeller for dirt & junk that could impede
the motor from getting started properly.

BTW, IMO Wayne makes a good product.

HTH,

Twayne`