From: DAVID FRYMAN (fryperson@hotmail.com)
Date: Sat Apr 15 2000 - 14:40:19 PDT
Message-ID: <20000415214020.66398.qmail@hotmail.com> From: "DAVID FRYMAN" <fryperson@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: Ground fault interrupt Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2000 14:40:19 PDT
To answer Eric's question about the GFCI - the GFCI is not a circuit breaker
but a circuit monitor. If you held on to the terminals of the pickle
machine and turned on the powetr (don't!) it would not know the difference.
What the GFCI does is monitor the current going through the two leads
connected to the plug socket (the black and the white, not the green) and,
if it detects more current going in than going out, it knows the current has
taken some other path and cuts the power. I know this is AC and there is no
"in" vs. "out" strictly speaking, but the electrical contracting world
considers the black lead coming from the wall circuit to be "hot" and the
white to be "grounded" and if current leaks elsewhere (i.e. through you),
the current in the grounded side will be less than that on the hot side.
The lifesaving advantage of a GFCI is that it doesn't need to detect a
circuit overload of 20 amps to trip.
(I owe this knowledge to a year worked at Orchard Hardware Supply)
David Fryman
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