Powerstrip and GCFI

[pghflame]

If you plug your powerstrip into a GFCI outlet, and the POWERSTRIP gets wet, does the GFCI still trip? Guy at Lowe's was useless in answering this question (I know...hard to believe).

I obviously no nothing about electricity...so you can make fun me.

 

[imow]

Yes it will. My kitchen outlets are all wired into 1 gfci.

 

[Tangy1]

1 gfci outlet and all the electric outlets to that circuit are protected. Even if an extension cord plugged into the power strip thats plugged into gfci gets wet it will trip.

 

[AnotherGoldenTeapot]

Well there's really two questions here. The first is whether it's equivalent to plug into a strip board compared to plugging straight into the GFI outlet. The answer to this is that it is - mostly anyway.

The second question implied is whether getting a GFI protected outlet wet will result in the power being turned off. The answer to this is "probably". The answer is not "yes" because getting the outlet wet and getting a ground fault are not the same thing. For example, a slow drip might only contact the live part of the outlet and so not create a ground fault. It's quite conceivable that you could start a fire without the GFI tripping.

You really should position your outlets so that they can't get wet in any plausible scenario.

 

[pghflame]

Thanks, all of these answers are about what I expected. Let me ask another question that I just thought of then. Would a malfunctioning powerhead or broken glass heater (I use titanium, but for the sake of the question) that lets out stray current trip the GFCI? Lets assume we have no grounding probe (or whatever that is called) inside the tank to dissipate the stray current.

 

[imow]

A busted heater would trip the gfci...the circuit is being interrupted by the broken heater.

 

[AnotherGoldenTeapot]

With no grounding probe the GFI will not trip since there is no ground fault.

It would probably trip as soon as you stick your hand in - but it would be nice if it turned off the power as soon as there was a problem - giving your livestock a good chance of surviving.

If you're not convinced a grounding probe is needed then experiemnt (taking care) with some bare wires in a glass of salt water. You'll notice the GFI will not trip unless the ground wire is in the water. This experiment is enough to prove you need the grounding probe but does not explain why - given the neutral wire is earthed I once thought that would be sufficent - it isn't though...

I can state categorically with 100% certainty that anyone who thinks a grounding probe (or equivalent) is not needed has never bothered to test their hypothesis.

In any event it's possible to dream up faults where the neutral wire is not exposed to water and the live wire is - a grounding probe is definetly needed in this scenario.

 

[pghflame]

Anotherteapot, when you are talking about a grounding probe, do you mean the perverbial "3rd prong" in the outlet, or do you mean the metal rods they sell that are supposed to pick up stray current. Also, if the rods are what is meant, how many of you reading this use these rods?

 

[Marcosreef]

Here is a great article on grounding:

Grounding Probes & Safety Switches

 

[bertoni]

About GFCI's: They trip on a number of
conditions:

1) power-to-ground fault

2) neutral-to-ground fault

3) current leakage (a current mismatch between
power and neutral) For example, a fault from
a device to a ground, but not the ground wire.

So if your broken powerhead were actually leaking
current along some circuit the GFCI will trip,
unless of course you get a malfunction. Actually,
if you get a short on one of the three conditions
above, the GFCI will go, if the short draws
more than 5-10 mA or so for some period of time,
to be more specific.

I've spilled water on a power strip. Sigh! My
GFCI tripped; no damage to me or the components,
only my nerves.

[ March 26, 2002: Message edited by: Jonathan Bertoni ]</p>