New to forum and hoping somebody can answer a couple of questions about a
50amp GFCI circuit breaker. I just recently installed this circuit breaker in the electrical
panel at my dads house to bring his new hot tub to electrical code & meet the warranty
requirements in the owners manual. His original hot tub was installed without such a device
when the house was built back in 1994. Anyhow, the circuit breaker installed was a
culter- Hammer GFCB250 for his westinghouse electrical panel. After researching this
breaker on the internet I noticed that it is supposed to be installed with coper wire only.
Unfortunately, the wire run to the hot tube is 8AWG aluminum. I couldn't find this stipulation
in the installation manual nor on the circuit breaker itself. At the electrical store where I
purchased this breaker it was explained to me that the reason for this is due to the oxidation
of the aluminum wire. It was then recommended to create copper wire pigtails to insert into the
GFCI breaker then use a threaded splice adapter to accommodate the aluminum wire installed
with anti-oxidant. The question is if this is so then why is this stipulation only on the 30 and
40amp GFCI breakers?
I had no problems installing this breaker and it has been functioning fine since it was installed
last month but here is my second question. Yesterday after playing around with my new
infrared thermometer I noticed that this GFCI breaker was operating @ 100F-105F while all
other non GFCI breakers where operating @ 80F-85F. Is it normal for the GFCI breaker
to operate at a slightly higher temp than a standard breaker? Again this GFCI breaker is
functioning just fine so should I really be all that concerned.