{"id":838,"date":"2018-11-14T16:05:39","date_gmt":"2018-11-14T16:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/?p=838"},"modified":"2022-11-25T09:45:07","modified_gmt":"2022-11-25T14:45:07","slug":"what-are-ground-fault-circuit-interrupters-gfci","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/what-are-ground-fault-circuit-interrupters-gfci\/","title":{"rendered":"What are Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCI)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters<\/strong> (GFCI) help protect people from electrical shock in homes, offices, hospitals, schools and outdoors. <strong>The great thing about GFCIs is that they protect you whether or not your wiring is grounded.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns has-2-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1000\" src=\"http:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/GFCI-Plate.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-847\" srcset=\"https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/GFCI-Plate.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/GFCI-Plate-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/GFCI-Plate-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/GFCI-Plate-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/GFCI-Plate-960x960.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1000\" src=\"http:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/GFCI-unit.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-848\" srcset=\"https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/GFCI-unit.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/GFCI-unit-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/GFCI-unit-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/GFCI-unit-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/GFCI-unit-960x960.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is a ground fault?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A ground fault occurs when current and your electrical circuit takes a path to ground instead of taking the direct path it was intended to take back to your panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCI)\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cn4g8zgwSJI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why do we need ground fault circuit interrupters?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A ground fault protection is designed to prevent electrocution. Even if a small amount of current passes through your body to ground you can become seriously or fatally injured. Thirty (30) milliamps is all it takes to cause death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Baby-electrical-shock-hazard.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"442\" height=\"500\" src=\"http:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Baby-electrical-shock-hazard.jpg\" alt=\"Baby potential electric shock hazard\" class=\"wp-image-876\" srcset=\"https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Baby-electrical-shock-hazard.jpg 442w, https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Baby-electrical-shock-hazard-265x300.jpg 265w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 442px) 100vw, 442px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How can you protect yourself against ground faults?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There are two ways, one in the form of a breaker, the other is a GFCI receptacle. Both are designed to trip when they detect a leakage of current in between 4 to 6 milliamps the Ontario Electrical Safety Code requires that these be installed in kitchens, bathrooms, and outdoor areas. They are also required for pools, hot tubs and some other areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These devices should always be installed by a certified electrical contractor. If they&#8217;re done improperly they will not protect you. If you have an older home you really do need to have GFCI protection installed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please call us any time and ask questions. We&#8217;d be happy to help make your home more safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And <strong>check out our post on <a href=\"https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/arc-fault-circuit-interrupters-afci\/\">Arc Fault Protection<\/a>.<\/strong> Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters are designed to protect your home from electrical fire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCI) help protect people from electrical shock in homes, offices, hospitals, schools and outdoors. The great thing about GFCIs is that they protect you whether or not your wiring is grounded. What is a ground fault? A ground fault occurs when current and your electrical circuit [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5843,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[126,131],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-circuit-interrupters","category-electrical-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=838"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6056,"href":"https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838\/revisions\/6056"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captainelectric.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}