PRE-SATURDAY NIGHT QUIZ
ANSWER:
YUP - thru the cord. If you have ever opened up a round electrical cord/cable, you found some individually insulated wires and some string type stuff. The string stuff kinda fills in the spaces between the individual wires so that the cable is rounder and prettier. The usual problem is that the stringy stuff can wick the water. If you were to lay a length of it out on a table, and lay one end in some water, the water would wick down the length of the string and it would all be wet. Therefore, if there was a cut or nick in the outer insulating cover of the cable (a cable is more than one separate wire bundled together) the water could get into the wicking and travel down to the electrical compartment of the motor.
The GFCI’s are crucial in any pond. You should always have one in the breaker box for the circuit that feeds the outside outlets, AND a receptacle type GFCI for EVERY outside receptacle. The GFCI breaker protects momma from getting electrocuted when she plants the rose bush over the buried cable, and the GFCI receptacles protect you and other folks, animals, pets, friends, siblings, offsprungs, etc., from a similar fate. AND TEST THEM REGULARLY! PER INSTRUCTIONS! If they trip = GOOD!!! It may have just saved your butt from becoming a well done roast.
By the way, there is one commercial fountain component manufacturer that has custom wiring made for their underwater lights and water switches. PEM FOUNTAIN (Coastal is their Eastern USA Distributor) has NON-wicking cable made. It actually will stop any migration of water. Think of the wicking being made of bentonite - (probably not, but it is a good pond layman illustration) and when the bentonite gets wet it swells up and seals the cable completely = no wicking!
Why doesn’t everyone use it? = it costs more.
So, if your pump trips the GFCI or the breaker, you might want to check the cable very, very, carefully. And, if you find the cut = throw out the pump and protect the next one better.
:-)
Bill
> > > Subject: [Ponds-Koi] PRE-SATURDAY NIGHT QUIZ > > > > BASIC FACTS: > > > > A generic submersible pump. Any make or model. > > > > Did work great. Used to do odd jobs when and where needed. Then, one > > day, > > or night, as the case may be, it started to trip the GFCIs. > > Everytime it was plugged into a GFCI it tripped it immediately. When > > plugged into a breaker only protected circuit it runs apparently > > normally. > > > > An inspection reveals water in the pump’s electrical chamber, but > > there is > > no way that the water leaked in thru the various seals. The pump > > checks out > > as still perfectly watertight per manufacturer’s design specs. > > > > QUESTION: > > > > How did the water get into the motor? > > > > 
> > > > Bill > >
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