Every once in a while this topic comes up. Everyone says how important it is to have these and I beleive them. This is my question though. When power gets tripped by storms, or work by the electric co, or just a fluke thing, would I be correct in saying that once these get tripped they did not come back on? If so then what happens when you are gone all day at work or better yet on vacation and the power goes out. Seems like your tank would die? So how does everyone use these?
GFCI questions
- Thread starter r0bin
- Start date
rustybucket145
New member
Why would the GFCI trip if the power goes out??? Why would it trip if the elec company were working on a line..????
You're not making any sense... I think you need to read up on what exactly a GFCI does.
You're not making any sense... I think you need to read up on what exactly a GFCI does.
landlord
New member
From what I understand (hopefully I understand correctly) a normal (not too sensitive) GFCI should not trip during a rolling brown out or other interruption in power. The GFCI looks for current differences between the hot and neutral wires, which in most cases would be the same. Unless you are holding the plug standing in a pool of water in which case it would trip.
I could be completely wrong so take this with a grain of salt. I can say that my GFCI 20 amp circuits do not trip when lightning strikes and kills my power. Everything comes back on just fine.
FWIW --landlord
I could be completely wrong so take this with a grain of salt. I can say that my GFCI 20 amp circuits do not trip when lightning strikes and kills my power. Everything comes back on just fine.
FWIW --landlord
LobsterOfJustice
Recovering Detritophobe
GFCIs protect you, not your tank. If it trips while you are out of town, your tank will die. I Try to keep the vitals not on a GFCI. But then again, that is putting myself at risk if something goes wrong with that piece of equipment. There was a thread mentioning auto-resetting GFCI recently. That would be good if it trips by accident, but it something actualy goes wrong while you are away, it still wont help.
Your best bet is to spread things out over multiple GFCIs so you dont lose all power if one thing goes wrong.
Your best bet is to spread things out over multiple GFCIs so you dont lose all power if one thing goes wrong.
HDAlien
New member
All of my circuits are GFCI and I've never had a trip on one due to power outages, brownouts, lightning etc. Now, specifically, if it does trip, yes, it stays off until you reset it. I get around this with a UPS and the Neptune ACIIIpro which allows two power supplies, one is on the UPS side, one on the non-UPS side so the controller can notify me of an outage.
FishTruck
Premium Member
A cheap, safe, protective device is a battery powered air pump. I think pen plax makes one that plugs into the wall and automatically turns on when the power goes out. They run for days. The most immediate threat to your tank is lack of water circulation and you can protect your tank against that for almost nothing.
If you were out of town, this could at least buy you 24 to 48 hours until your tank sitter comes by.
http://www.aquatichouse.com/Pumps_files/ppbatpump.asp
If you were out of town, this could at least buy you 24 to 48 hours until your tank sitter comes by.
http://www.aquatichouse.com/Pumps_files/ppbatpump.asp
Ran to HD on my lunch and picked up (2) shock shield portable GFCI PLugs. The only thing is is says on it 120V/15A. I normally deal in Watts. I don't know if what I need to plug in is to many watts or not. The only reason I ask is the guy at HD said if I plug too much into it it could burn up and catch fire. Great more worries. I would think though if it was too much wattage my circuit would trip? What do you guys say?
Last edited:
