GFI Outlets

GFI  Outlets

A GFI outlet or Ground Fault Outlet is basically an electrical outlet that has a built in circuit breaker built in to it. This is an oversimplification but it provides an extra amount of protection in an electrical circuit.

The electricity comes in to your building from the power lines from your electric power company. It then goes through your fuse or circuit breaker box to the different electrical lines of the building. Many lines that go out have a string of outlets in a row. If you overload an outlet on the string it causes the circuit breaker or fuse that is in the main breaker box for that line to trip. 

A GFI is an outlet that can be installed in one of the outlet spots in a string of outlets on the same line. The circuit breaker built in to the outlet will trip if the outlet is overloaded.  Any outlet that is past the GFI on that string will also go out. Also, if an outlet past the GFI is overloaded the GFI will also trip. A GFI just adds an additional line of protection to any electrical system by adding, so to speak, additional fuses to you electrical system.

If you have an over load problem and the GFI disables a line of outlets, it narrows down where to look for the problem. The GFI can be reset and all the outlets on the line go back in service. GFI’s, like fuses come in different ratings and can be matched to the wire size and electrical need for the circuit that it goes in.  Your electrician can tell you what size is safe and is needed for a circuit.

Most new or newer electronics do not pull a lot of current, and many things like a computer network system requires multiple outlets to get the system up and running. Computer systems have a snarl of cords and wires. I know mine is. It can be a mess of extended wiring from a single circuit line.

Our system is first plugged in to a GFI protected outlet. The power strips that go into that outlet have both a GFI and surge protector circuit built in to it. Then the components are plugged in to the power strip. That gives two extra circuit protection points besides the main circuit-box breaker. 

By putting the Power strips in to two different outlet boxes in the same room and running ½ the components off of each outlet, if a problem of too much current pull accrues the power strip for that outlet should shut down.  That makes troubleshooting the problem much easier, and you do not have to restart all your things.  

I like redundant safety systems, and a GFI outlet is a easy, cheap way of building it into your electrical system. It can also save expensive items that are plugged in.  

When we had the AC electrical system of our sailboat redone, our electrician put in GFI circuits. We now have 4 zones: port bow, port stern, starboard bow and starboard stern.  It will really make finding an AC electrical  problem on the boat much easier if one develops.  As we use the boat more and more as our business office, it is nice to know what I plug in is protected. It is nice to have an office on the boat, 8-).