Ground Fault [RE-wrenches]

Pat Redgate solarpro at aol.com
Tue Nov 19 08:27:26 PST 2002


This string on PVGFP has been very instructive, starting with Bill Miller's 
story, web site photos and diagrams.  

We have been using GFCI's on all outdoor applications for AC powered dhw 
pumps, and for years they have proven to be a necessary nuisance.  GFI's will 
trip, which leads to a service call which almost always leads to a new (and 
hopefully more reliable) GFCI.  Certain brands over the years have given us 
more problems than others.  So I am reluctant to introduce a GFCI into any 
circuit unless I am confident of its reliability.  Are there any reports or 
listings of GFCIs for quality or durability? 

Also, having become convinced that this kind of protection is extremely 
important, might it not be a better idea to place the interrupter right at 
the array, instead of downstream, at the inverter?  Is there anything in the 
code that would prevent two GFCI's in the same DCPV circuit?  It seems more 
important to short the circuit at the array if there is a long run between 
the modules and the inverter, especially if the run is romex in an attic (!)  
I understand that the new code requires a DC disconnect near the array prior 
to entry into the building envelope ... wouldn't an array PVGFCI be better 
protection?  What would be the best unit on the market to install at the 
array, presuming that this would not present a problem for the inverter's 
GFCI (I can't see any reason why it would)? 

Thanks again, all of you.  I wish this forum had been available in the 
seventies and eighties..... maybe solar thermal would not have had so many 
evolutionary dead ends!

Patrick A. Redgate
AMECO
Long Beach, CA
(562) 595-9570
www.amecosolar.com

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