two gfi's inline????

[goda]

i have a GFI at the breaker box ( built in to breaker)
i also have GFI's at the outlet
my querstion is if somthing fails will the gfi at the outlet bow and the breaker stay on? or will they both go?

if it would only be the outlet then thats great since then i get duel protection ( if wall outletfails then the breaker can take over)

 

[crumbletop]

Yes, if the wall outlet fails then the breaker should catch it.

Jack

 

[goda]

but the real q is.. would they just both go att the same time? or would hte breaker blow first .

see the probloms?

 

[crumbletop]

No, I don't. If they both go, or if the breaker goes, then you are still protected.

 

[mg426]

The GFI protection opens when there is a gound leakage situation . The Breaker function opens when there is an excess current situation.

 

[masterswimmer]

mg, he mentioned that his service panel breaker is a GFCI breaker. So everything down line from it is protected from any ground fault.

I am not an electrician, but I don't think you want to have two GFCI's in line. You probably have more than a dedicated outlet run from that breaker. If that's the case, if your GFCI outlet trips, why would you want everything else on that circuit to shut down as well? You wouldn't. That's why using a GFCI breaker is not as efficient as the GFCI outlet in this case.

Hope that was clear.

swimmer

 

[mg426]

Mabe I misunderstood the question. I was only saying that there is a differance between what could be causing a loss of power. Just trying to say that a currant trip is differant than a ground fault trip.

 

[crumbletop]

If the point of the GFCI is to protect the circuit (and you) in the event of a ground fault, and you happen to have a GFCI breaker, as well as a GFCI outlet, then what difference does it make which one trips or if both trip? As masterswimmer says, if you are worried about the entire circuit going out, then why have the breaker? In my case it wouldn't matter either way. I have a GFCI outlet on the first outlet in series -- so if it trips, all things downstream will trip. I suppose if you wired the GFCI outlet in what would traditionally be thought of as "incorrectly", then you could install a GFCI outlet at all boxes and each outlet would be individually GFCI protected (i.e. if one trips, power is not interupted to downstream outlets). If you are going to that extreme, then I'd have an electrician do the work for you. You don't want to be creating a fire hazzard.

Jack

 

[goda]

i have the breaker gfi cause it shares a line with a bathroom
but i have like 4 outlet gfis at the fish tank that come from that breakers line
i kinda was hoping that if there was a problom with a pump or somthing then the wall would trip and not turn off everything
but if the pump failed and the wall gfi failed then the breaker would kick in and turn off everything
( i have like 7 different power lines going to my fish tank. so every circit shares a outlet or two with the tank)

 

[bertoni]

If you have two GFIs in serious, either one or perhaps both might trip. Each device is going to have a slightly different response time.

 

[AZDesertRat]

A ground fault is a ground fault period. A GFCI will sense down to millivolts and trip. Its a waste of money to add GFCI outlets to a GFCI breaker as you are as protected as you can get already. If there truly is a fault theoretically they should all trip at the same time or within milliseconds of each other. There is no dual protection.
A normal breaker trips on overload, you can have a ground fault and it won't sense it unless it exceeds the amperage rating of the breaker. And vice versa a GFCI trips when something goes to ground but it does not see amperage so offers no overload protection. A GFCI breaker sees both.

 

[mg426]

Exactly

 

[masterswimmer]

GFCI outlets are notorious for failing over time. Add more than one to a circuit and you're adding multiple points for failure.

I don't use a GFI on any tank related outlet. I know it's an opportunity for getting flamed here. However, when constructing any health care facility with life support systems (which our reefs are) it is against code (at least in NY) to put ANY life support system on a GFI breaker or outlet.

swimmer

 

[bertoni]

I think that's a bad bet. In a hospital, a life-support device doesn't have a backup. I use multiple GFCIs in parallel so that the failure of one GFCI doesn't cause the tank to die. Beyond that, I think my life and reducing fire hazards are better bets that skipping the GFCI.

 

[goda]

so ill either remove the gfi breaker so i can have individual outlets or remove the outlets so they are all hooked to the gfi breaker with no other gfis inbetween

( please note. my other lines to the tnak still have multiple gfi's but are hooked in parellel so they dont really effect eachother as far as i know.)

hey i could always just touch a hot wire to the ground for a second and see what happens ^^ ( would probobly blow the breaker from amps if anything)