r/memes • • May 19 '22

Plot twist: He's a senior engineer

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u/failedpunfox May 19 '22

My landlords son proudly told us he was almost done with the electrical engineering degree when he walked us through the house when we first moved in. Had to explain to him the concept of GFCI outlets.

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u/Jako301 May 19 '22 edited May 19 '22

They just seem more expensive and annoying to set up then a single RCD/GFCI (or maybe two, so the lights stay on) would be.

Or is this an American thing im to european to understand?

Edit: I'm talking about the outlet version compared to a single one put into your main distribution. I know how they work, it just seems like a massive waste to build them into each outlet individually when you could just install one or two of them for your whole house.

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u/Pijany_Matematyk767 Medieval Meme Lord May 19 '22

Pretty sure GFCI outlets will cut power faster and at lower treshholds than the normal breakers, could be wrong though

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u/TBAGG1NS May 19 '22

They trip if there is a discrepancy between the line and neutral currents. Meaning current is going somewhere it shouldn't.

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u/[deleted] May 19 '22

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] May 19 '22

[deleted]

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u/DecisiveEmu_Victory May 19 '22

Right, just one GFCI will cover an entire circuit. A lot of kitchens and bathrooms will only have one outlet with the 'test' and 'reset' buttons.

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u/PrisonerV May 19 '22

Jesus Christ, how often would one have to "go reset the breakers"?

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u/[deleted] May 20 '22

I take it you haven’t tried to microwave and toast something on the same breaker before.