GFCI Theory

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter is an electrical device used to shut off power to an electrical circuit when the strength of current is altered.

History

• GFCIs were first produced in the 1960s using the research developed by Professor Charles Dalziel of the University of California at Berkeley. The National Fire Protection Association reports GFCIs were first required in building codes in 1968, and by the 1980s had helped reduce the number of electrocutions in the U.S. by half the number of the 1960s.

Ground Fault

• The CPSC reports a ground fault occurs when an electrical current comes into contact with a grounded surface, diverting it from its circuit. Electrocutions and shocks occur when an electrical current enters the human body, which when grounded becomes a ground fault.

Interruption

• A GFCI works by interrupting the current being passed through an electrical circuit when the strength of current returning through the GFCI is weaker than that originally sent out. The CPSC explains the GFCI shuts off the power to a circuit almost instantaneously. GFCIs could reduce the number of electrocutions in the U.S. by two-thirds; almost 300 people are electrocuted in the U.S. each year.