Piggybacking GFI plugs...any electricians?

[Anonymous]

I want to have all gfi connections on my new reef, but don't like the idea of all or half the appliances failing if the plug flips. If I attached the plug-in type gfi's to a power strip which was plugged in to the wall gfi would the plug-in ones flip quickly enough to stop the wall one from going?

Thanks, Dan

 

[Anonymous]

Seriesed GFCI's won't work properly. The likleyhood of "nuisance tripping" is very high. That means when you come home from work, you may not have power. Not sure what your set up is, but if you plug a power strip into the GFCI in the wall, everything will be protected. HTH

[ October 21, 2001: Message edited by: SteveNichols ]

 

[Rich-n-poor]

It is a waste of time and money for the following reason:

Any outlet wired in series after the initial GFCI is automatically GFCI protected. If you plug a power strip into a GFCI outlet and the power strip gets wet the GFCI outlet itself will trip

If you wire an additional outlet after the GFCI in series plug the strip into that and it gets wet the oringinal GFCI will trip to interupt the circut

AC=equals Alternating current it changes direction as it flows thru the line at a rate of 60 cycles per second. It doesnt travel from your breaker box to the outlet to the motor and then get expended but rather flucuates back and forth between them. Therefore and short anywhere on the line after then GFCI will travel back to the circut interupter in 1/60 of sec.

European countries use mostly DC=Direct Current because it is easier to store and slightly more efficent the US uses AC because it is easier to send AC current long distances with litlle loss of power

Everything after the initial GFCI will be protected by it adding more is redundant

HTH

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Insurance Discussion

 

[olgakurt]

This is based on what I read while installing the GFCI for my tank:

You can wire multiple GFCIs such that the first one does not trip the second (not wired to protect other outlets downstream), there would be merely two GFCI outlets acting independently. Therefore you would have two protected outlets, but tripping one would not affect the other.

I think if you have everything plugged into one wall gfci, then there is a chance everything could trip, but then again, I am not an electrician.
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American Forum

 

[Anonymous]

Rich-n-poor,
Not sure I understand exactly- If I had a portable GFCI plugged into a wall GFCI and to a powerhead, and the powerhead shorted out... which GFCI would trip?

 

[Rich-n-poor]

well technically first GFCI the short encounters would trip so if your goal is to to protect everything with a GFCI but not have any one item shut down power to the tank entirely I guess it would work in theory to plug a GFCI adaptor into a strip plugged into a gfci outlet in hopes that it would trip the adaptor only but i couldnt garantee it.
My point was every plug in line after the GFCI is automatically protected by it since when the curennt/short reaches the GFCI it will interupt the circut which will take 1/60 of a sec for ac current.
Theorically your way will work but it is unusal because in ordinary house wiring its unneccessary but in a reef tank I can see why you want it that way
The first GFCI to encounter the short should trip and interupt that circut without allowing it to continue further back the line and trip others
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Christianity Forum

 

[Anonymous]

Insert standard disclaimer here: Blah, blah, blah.

now that that is said,


You can wire GFCI's so they don't trip each other. This is how I built a box with three GFCI's an one regular outlet.(i am not a LICENSED electrician)

On the back of the GFCI's I get from HD, there are six insert holes for wire- three for the hot (black) and three for the neutral(white) If you look at these holes, there are four holes (two and two) on one side of the receptical, and two holes on the other side.

The wire comming from my plug( that goes into the wall outlet) goes into the holes on the side that has 4. The black wire goes to the brass screw, and the white wire goes to the chrome screw. From there, another pair of wires jump out of the other two holes ON THE SAME SIDE to the next receptical.

This process repeats one more time, and then on the last GFCI, there is only one set of wires on the side that has four holes (the 'in' side) The last receptical, a non-gfci jumps from the other side of the last GFCI-the side with only 2 holes. this way, the non GFCI will trip the GFCI it is piggybacked to.

I take all the wires from the ground screws (the green screw at the top of the recepticle) and wire nut them together with the ground wire from the plug that goes into the wall.

I wish I had a digital camera to show you some pics.

I repeat, this is only what I did on my tank.

The info here comes with every GFCI. it is this little sheet of paper called INSTRUCTIONS! (although I try to never read (de)struction sheets for anything...)

HD sells a three pack of gfci's for about $20. It is like getting one for free.

PM me if you have any specific questions.

B

[ October 28, 2001: Message edited by: Bingo ]</p>

 

[djh]

I have a gfi on the wall outlet and made a series off 6 oulets with the plug in gfis in each one. I had a powerhead that kept shorting out the hole sytem. Thats why I got the individual ones. Came home one day and found out what specificially was shorting everything out. I still have the power heads plugged in, but took them off for everthing else. Anytime the power would flicker or go out the portable ones click off. I learned a hard lesson with it tripped my chiller off last summer.

 

[AnotherGoldenTeapot]

I've often wondered what good a GFI does on a tank?

Assuming the tank is not earthed (I expect almost none are) then why would the GFI ever trip? I mean, where would the ground fault come from?

I've never seen an earthed submerisable heater, power head, aquarium filter etc.

What am I missing here?

 

[Anonymous]

A GFCI stops a short circuit from Hot to Neutral. A short to ground will usually trip a breaker first. On a tank, If a heater or powerhead shorts out, it will trip the GFCI.

A grounding probe will make sure your tank is properly grounded. It makes for a safer (and less stressful) tank for your inhabatants.

B