GFCIs: What They Are, Why We Need Them

It’s happened to most of us: you’re drying your hair (or you might only have gotten as far as plugging the hair dryer in and trying to turn it on) and the hair dryer suddenly stops working. In cases where it isn’t broken and you didn’t trip a circuit breaker, you’ve probably just seen a GFCI at work.

It’s a minor annoyance to be interrupted and have to hit the reset button, but you can thank that GFCI for saving you from a nasty electrical shock, perhaps for saving your life! But how do those little suckers work? It’s worth knowing, because it’s important to test them regularly to assure that they will continue to save your life.

How a GFCI Works:

A GFCI, or Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter, does exactly what it’s name says it does: it interrupts a circuit if a ground fault exists. But that’s electrician-speak and I don’t understand it, so let’s translate, shall we?

The electricity powering a hair dryer, for example, should be running from the hot wire (the small slot in an outlet) to the neutral wire (the wider slot) through the circuit, essentially in a circle. If a body provides a path for the electricity to travel down to the ground, the result could be a deadly electrical shock. A common cause is water, and that is why GFCI outlets are required in bathrooms, kitchens, etc.

If your hair dryer was sitting in a puddle of water on the sink and you turn it on, the water provides a path from the dryer, through you, to the ground. This means that instead of traveling from hot to neutral and back again, the electricity is passing from hot to you to the ground, and this is bad. The GFCI’s job is to sense a discrepancy in the amount of electricity leaving the circuit vs. the amount of electricity returning. If some of the current is moving through you instead of back to neutral, the GFCI will sense it in a fraction of a second, and will interrupt the circuit and cut the power.

How to Test a GFCI outlet:

The kind of outlet you have in your bathroom probably looks like this:

To test your outlet (which you should do at least once a year), plug a small appliance (a lamp or small radio works well) into the outlet and turn it on.

• Press the “Test” button, and the appliance should turn off.
• Press the “Reset” button, and the appliance should turn back on.

• If the appliance is functional but not turning on, first check to see that a breaker hasn’t been tripped and that the outlet is not already in test mode.
• If neither of these is the case, contact an electrician to take a look at the outlet.
• If you press the “Test” button and the appliance does not turn off, contact an electrician as soon as possible- until it is fixed, you will not be protected from being shocked if you use the outlet.

So there you have it!

If your bathroom, kitchen, laundry room, garage, outdoor outlets, etc. are not equipped with GFCI’s, if you are unsure, or if any of your GFCI’s are not functioning properly, call us at (503) 657- 9173 or send us an email. There is nothing more important than your family’s safety.

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