Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter Outlets

How Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter Works In Murrieta Homes?

Ground fault circuit interrupter is a fundamental part of pond equipment safety. Ground-fault Circuit interrupter are designed to protect from electrical shock by interrupting a household circuit when there is a difference in the currents in the hot and neutral wires. In home use, ground fault circuit interrupter can typically be found in kitchens and bathrooms.

It is presently available which provide a great measure of personal protection. GFCI is highly susceptible to voltage surges and lightning strikes . Ground fault circuit interrupters are important safety devices that if installed in home branch circuits, could prevent over two-thirds of the approximately 300 electrocutions still occurring each year in and around the home.Ground fault circuit interrupters are required by the electrical code for receptacles in bathrooms, some kitchen receptacles, some outside receptacles, and receptacles near swimming pools.

Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCIs)

What is a GFCI
A ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) can help prevent electrocution. If a person’s body starts to receive a shock, the GFCI senses this and cuts off the power before he/she can get injured. GFCIs are generally installed where electrical circuits may accidentally come into contact with water. They are most often found in kitchens, bath and laundry rooms, or even out-of-doors or in the garage where electric power tools might be used.

What is a ground fault?
According to the National Electrical Code, a “ground fault” is a conducting connection (whether intentional or accidental) between any electric conductor and any conducting material that is grounded or that may become grounded. Electricity always wants to find a path to the ground. In a ground fault, electricity has found a path to ground, but it is a path the electricity was never intended to be on, such as through a person’s body.Because of this potential for shock, GFCI protection is used to protect human life.

How does a GFCI work?
The GFCI will “sense” the difference in the amount of electricity flowing into the circuit to that flowing out, even in amounts of current as small as 4 or 5 milliamps. The GFCI reacts quickly (less than one-tenth of a second) to trip or shut off the circuit. Read more here.

Specially designed portable ground fault circuit interrupters can be taken from place to place to protect you anywhere.

How GFCI Receptacles Keep You Safe

Portable

A ground fault happens whenever electricity escapes the confines of the wiring in an appliance, light fixture, or power tool and takes a shortcut to the ground. When that short cut is through a human, the results can be deadly. About 200 people in the U.S. alone die of ground faults each year, accounting for two-thirds of all electrocutions occurring in homes.

To prevent such accidents, Charles Dalziel, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of California, invented the ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI), in 1961. Most of the time, his invention does nothing; it just monitors the difference in the current flowing into and out of a tool or appliance. But when that difference exceeds 5 milliamps, an indication that a ground fault may be occurring, the GFCI shuts off the flow in an instant — as little as .025 second.

GFCIs are required by the National Electric Code in all new kitchens, bathrooms, crawl spaces, unfinished basements, and most outdoor receptacles. Owners of older houses can retrofit $10 GFCI receptacles at those locations or have GFCI breaker switches (which run as much as $108 for 50-amp models) mounted in the main breaker panel. Portable GFCI adapters, which plug into regular wall receptacles, are available for about $40. See more here.

Ground fault circuit interrupters can be built into a home’s electrical system or into a power cord for a particular electrical device.

Install Ground Fault Circuit Interupter Outlets – GFCI’s

To better understand what is involved in installing a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) in your home, you’ll first need to have an understanding of basic electrical wiring. If you feel at all uncomfortable about working on an electrical circuit, then it might be best the call a professional. Understanding basic circuitry, knowing where to turn circuits off and on, being able to test circuits and keep track of what goes where are all essential and important. As with any and all electrical projects, be sure to turn the power off to anything you are working on. Electrical safety should always be number 1 on your list.

Turn Off the Power
Before you begin any electrical project, go to the electrical panel and shut off the circuit that you’ll be working on. Sometimes, not always, the electrician will mark the panel, on the inside of the door with the location the each individual breaker supplies. If it is marked, turn off the correct circuit. If it is not marked, plug something into the circuit and one-at-a-time start shutting off breakers. When the device that you plugged in goes out, you may have found the circuit.

Check the Circuit
Always double-check the circuit with a tester or meter to be safe! Never assume that, just because the light went out, the circuit is off. Maybe, just maybe the bulb burned out and you happened to be at the right place at the wrong time. Read full article here.

Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters Have Saved Untold Numbers Of Lives

This course describes differences in the types of abnormal current flow that can occur within an electrical circuit because of the altered conditions and how ground fault circuit interrupters can protect against electrical shock. Ground fault circuit interrupters can protect workers from the risk of electrical shock and injury in wet and hazardous settings. If a person starts to receive an electrical shock, the ground fault circuit interrupters can sense this and automatically cut the power to that specific electrical outlet before the person can be seriously injured or even killed.

Ground fault circuit interrupters can literally save your life and should be installed anywhere there is an increased risk. The following facts and tips about ground fault circuit interrupters will give you a better idea of how they are used, and why it is in your best interest to have them. In fact, Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters have been providing this type of protection to consumers since the early 1970s. Ground fault circuit interrupters have been known to prevent many electrical fires and have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage. For more information, you may contact us here: (951) 805-1262.

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