I just purchased a brand new E5 circulation pump to replace my defective Silentflo 5000. Installed everything properly and it is tripping the 20amp circuit within 1 second. If I disconnect the circ pump in the control panel, it does not trip the breaker and everything else works properly - jet pumps, control panel, heater, etc. I wire and rewired the pump to insure everythign was clean (no fray strands, etc).

Here is how I have the E5 wired:

Black wire going to 'L'
White wire going to 'N'
Green wire going to Ground

By the way, the installation instructions that came with the pump are not correct. I validated the above with my local hot springs dealer who also said the instructions are incorrect. I installed in a drained spa, so no water or moisture anywhere near the cir pump.

Any help is appreciated. I am beginning to think this new pump is defective.

So the circ pump is on the 20 amp? I only ask because it depends on the year. Pretty strange that the circ pump would be grounded. I would disconnect the heater and reconnect the circ pump and see what happens.

It is a 1998, Model G - Serial G381210 Grandee Spa.

Here are two tests I performed based on your suggestion - neither worked:

Test 1:
Heater: Disconnected

Test 2:
Heater + Jet1 + Jet2 + Ozonator + Light: All Disconnected

Earlier today the circ pump did begin to work for about 1 minute after fiddling with it a little, but then tripped the breaker. Since then it's an immediate trip of the 20 amp breaker.

Thanks!

What were the problems with the spa before you changed the circ pump? Was the breaker tripping or was the circ pump just bad? I would suspect a bad breaker before the circ pump...I've almost never had one trip a breaker unless they were wet, nevermind a brand new one.

The previous pump was bad, overheated and wouldn't pump water, but didn't trip the breaker. Also, when I disconnect the circulation pump from the control panel everything works fine, so seems like if it were a bad breaker i would think it would still be tripping with the jet1 and jet2 pumps.

Well after performing a bunch of tests, I am confident the pump is working fine. Took it out and hooked it up to a 110 outlet running water through the pump and worked great.

Checked the ohms on each line.

When not in tub--
0.L on Line-Ground
0.L on Neutral-Ground
~5ohms on Line-Neutral

As I said pump runs fine when out of tub.

When in tub and hooked to the control panel-- still flips 20amp breaker and ohms out as follows:

~5ohms on Line-Ground
~0.2 on Neutral-Ground
~5ohms on Line-Neutral

Wondering why when in the tub hooked to the control panel I get a reading on the Line-Ground. Maybe my control board is bad for that connection. Any good way to check? Or maybe 20amp GFCI as previously suggested, but that still doesn't explain why Jet1 and Jet2 which work off the 20amp work fine when circ pump is disconnected.

It maybe time to call in the service.