Re: Ground faults circiuts
Originally posted by dinky: . . . but if you plug the equipment into a standard outlet it will work.
Originally posted by danw: . . . mine is a small commercial refrigerator that works fine when plugged into a standard outlet
I hope this does not sound too harsh, but both of these statements are untrue!
In both cases, it only
LOOKS LIKE the equipment works. It is not working, and it may even be dangerous. A fridge may appear to be working, because it keeps stuff cold and it doesn?t trip its breaker. But it can still have a leakage current that might even be high enough to hurt someone.
Remember: If a standard breaker could have kept everything safe, there would not have been a need to invent the GFCI, and there would be no code requirement for using a GFCI. In reality, the GFCI can detect a problem that a standard breaker cannot detect, and will therefore give us greater protection. If a GFCI is tripping, then something is wrong.