We need a lot more electricians if we’re going to electrify everything

Re:We need a lot more electricians if we’re going to electri... by londons_explore on Wednesday January 11, 2023 @02:26PM (#34343254)

Some old houses have exposed wiring in damp places, so there really is electricity leaking all the time. Theres probably some wire with paper insulation touching a plant root under the house, slowly steaming away.

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.

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Re:We need a lot more electricians if we’re going to electri... by cduzz on Wednesday January 11, 2023 @02:45PM (#34343539)

Doesn't that count as a feature not a bug?

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.

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Re:We need a lot more electricians if we’re going to electri... by ontarionick on Wednesday January 11, 2023 @03:22PM (#34344084)

The Swiss cheese model and the normalization of deviance!

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Re:We need a lot more electricians if we’re going to electri... by champtar on Wednesday January 11, 2023 @03:13PM (#34343963)

100% agree, if it trip something need to be fixed, that's as simple as that.

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Re:We need a lot more electricians if we’re going to electri... by idiotsecant on Wednesday January 11, 2023 @07:24PM (#34347234)

Old wiring with exposed conductors (!?!?!?) is a five-alarm fire situation (maybe even literally) and needs to be fixed, it's not a casual 'lol silly house' situation.

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