sberry
Banned
I have had them fail and I have one that hasn't had the test button hit in a while but I was out in the wet and got a tingle, I would have thought it would trip. Do they fail in this regard?
Gfci?
- Thread starter sberry
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Charles (in GA)
Well-known member
Older ones are more prone to this. I don't know the year, but the specs changed dramatically at one point for GFCI's and the early ones are much more likely to to either jam or not work. Now if the electronics inside fail or get zapped by a surge they trip open. Hubbell has one that does a self test of the circuitry every minute, along with having a failure and power lights. It can also be manually tested. I'll bet its expensive.
The GFCI that Tests Itself!
Edit: if you have one that will work if the hot and neutral are reversed, you have one of the older type. When the hot and neutral are reversed, the receptacle will work normally but has no GF protection. The changes in the rules required that if H/N are reversed, then the contacts in the device cannot close and will stay tripped. There is also a warning light on these.
Charles
The GFCI that Tests Itself!
Edit: if you have one that will work if the hot and neutral are reversed, you have one of the older type. When the hot and neutral are reversed, the receptacle will work normally but has no GF protection. The changes in the rules required that if H/N are reversed, then the contacts in the device cannot close and will stay tripped. There is also a warning light on these.
Charles
Last edited:
Alan Douglas
Well-known member
You might have enough leakage current to feel, but not enough to trip the GFCI. I believe the trip point was 6 milliamps (no idea if it still is). You can definitely feel that.
4-6 mA is correct. I can't imagine a scenario where one could feel a tingle, but it wouldn't trip the GFCI.
I've never heard of a GFCI failing to work, but that's probably my ignorance. Sounds like you have a bad one. I'd replace it immediately if it were me.
pattenp
Well-known member
Have you seen the new UL requirements for GFCI outlets? The outlet is going to let you know if it's not working correctly.
http://www.legrand.us/passandseymou...t-gfci/ul-943-gfci-standard.aspx#.VYr1K_lVglk
http://www.legrand.us/passandseymou...t-gfci/ul-943-gfci-standard.aspx#.VYr1K_lVglk
wyliesdiesels
Well-known member
Interesting. Too bad UL didnt adopt these requirements years ago!
Charles (in GA)
Well-known member
Thats exactly what the Hubbell GFCI units described in the link I posted in #2 do, an auto self test.
bczygan
Well-known member
It should send you a text message and a note to your Facebook page, or maybe tweet #Hey....I'm not doing so well....
wyliesdiesels
Well-known member
LMAO 
That was a good one!
That was a good one!The threshold of human perception of a shock is only around 1 mA, so there are instances where a GFCI could be working fine that you could still feel a tingling sensation. 6-10 mA is the point where a shock starts becoming painful, and is above where a standard residential GFCI should trip.