No, that's not true!
A GFCI measures the current going in and the current going out and if they are not equal it trips.
OP is correct that in this case a GFCI would trip all the time.
But on the other hand, GFCI leaks are fairly easy to track down and fix, especially with the right equipment.
If I install an GFCI/AFCI on a branch and it starts tripping and I look and find that there's some iffy wiring, that seems like a problem averted.
If I install these on a branch, decide that because it's not a problem (because the old breaker never tripped) I'm just ignoring the problem.
People ignore problems all the time and aren't always caught out, but sometimes "rely on good luck" runs into bad luck and bad things happen.
What if the return current goes through a different wire that was used as a quick fix for some wiring problem someone ran into 50 years ago?
The circuit repeatedly tripped, so the electrician uninstalled it. To install the GFCI he would need to spend 1-2 days splitting circuits to find the leak(s) so instead of ~$40 + 1 hours labour it's potentially thousands of dollars
So, somewhere you have a thing, that could kill you, a firend, a loved one or whomever. And you decide to ignore it because money. Where I live, if something would happen this could land you in prison.
>> And you decide to ignore it because money. Where I live, if something would happen this could land you in prison.
Well I am glad i do not live where you live (let me Guess EU?)
Further this is an advertisement for never even attempting to install the Whole House GFCI on an older home them, if knowledge == Liability, then be ignorant.
the safety nancy's in this thread are unreal
So the results of my risk assessment might just look a little different, because I am more familiar with the matter and the potential consequences than you might be.
Best of luck to you.
Absolutely not. We will get it fixed, the electrician just didn't have the time at that point, he's coming back to find the leak
I mean...this doesn't seem to apply to the GP, but you do understand that there are many, many people in the US for whom the amount of money needed to install that whole-house GFCI would be fine...but the amount needed to track down the faulty wire and fix it to make the house genuinely safe would bankrupt them?
But if I had wiring that was leaking enough current to trip a GFCI, I'd rather find the fault in the wiring.
When I rewired an old house, the livingroom circuit kept tripping the GFCI breaker. It took a while to find, but apparently at a junction box, the bedroom circuit was connected to the livingroom neutral, so that neutral was connected to 2 circuits and was potentially overloaded.
Do you understand what this actually implies?
There is also a good reason why you would like to know.
A tripping RCD is annoying, but not as annoying as dying from electrical shock and hurt all the way till you are dead because, guess what, you don't have a device that switches off the circuit if current flows where it should not.
Ah, and it could also kill your friend and make you liable for life. It could start a fire and ruin your whole existance. But yeah duh, so annoying.
Seriously, get an RCD. If it trips find out which part of your house sinks current into the environment in potential "he was killed in his sleep"-fashion.
Where I live RCDs are mandatory in every electrical installation.
But yeah, the law should probably have exception for installing safety devices, it's better to have some than zero because someone can't afford it.