Thread: GFI & storms
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Old 05-30-2010, 01:15 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DiverDude View Post
Doug,

You have to keep in mind what GFI's are meant for. They are intended to protect humans from electrocution. To that end, when they detect a difference in current between hot and neutral, they trip and cut power. If you were holding a hair dryer with a bad cord while standing on a wet floor, it possibly saved your life.

For our purposes with aquaria, it still saves livestock in certain circumstances but it's still primarilly to save YOUR butt if something leaks current to the tank and you stick your hand in there.

The GFI did what it was supposed to but the catch is that it has to be manually reset and as you've pointed out, there are pitfalls to that when all your aquarium gear is plugged into it.
Agreed Mark, but it should not trip from the power down. And it tripped while the other never. The tripped unit is only a few months old also. We need protection, for sure. I have always promoted gfi circuits for us and have used them for longer than I can remember, with never a related problem.

If they trip because of equipment failure, then one can understand. When away I have my tank checked daily and run two gfi circuits. I put a heater in my tank on the other circuit when I,m going to be away, so it would run along with the Vortechs.

However when the power fails and then comes back on, the gfi should still be on. Should it not?
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