On Sun, 05 Aug 2012 16:22:08 -0400, RBM wrote:

On 8/5/2012 3:53 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 04 Aug 2012 20:35:50 -0400, Duesenberg wrote:

On 8/4/2012 7:10 PM, DanG wrote:

Tell that to my friend that just lost a freezer full of groceries. GFI
had tripped with no apparent symptoms before or after.



My neighbour had a gfi outlet "trip" on him while he was away for a few
weeks. He lost a 20 cu foot freezer full of meat. Several deer, couple
moose, and several several several choice cuts of freshwater fish in
addition to beef/pork/poultry/lamb.

His home insurance agent actually came out and agree to compensate him
$1700 for the lost spoils of hunting and fishing.

I would imagine the deer and moose and bear of Northern Ontario will be
paying the true price of this gfi "trip" for the next couple years...

Why would a GFI be placed on a freezer or refrigerator anyhow? It's bad
enough when there is a power outage and these appliances go off, but
normally the power is restored long before these foods are ruined. A
tripped GFI does not notify the owner of the failure, and it may be days
before the woner finds out what occurred.

A GFI should never be used on a freezer, refrigerator, sump pump,
sewerage pump, furnace, or life support device.

I don't know about the CEC, but the NEC requires GF protection in
certain locations regardless what you're plugging in.
On new installation. My 38 year old home doesn't have, or require,
ANY GFCI devices. Then again, there is no "unfinished" space in the
whole house. Some "semi-finished" - and no sump pump.

I would not buy a house that needs one, personally. Enough high spots,
on sand, in our area that I don't need to settle for a house built in
a valley, on clay, or in a swamp. And no need or desire to move to an
area where that is not the case.

The freezer is another story - and I DO have a "power out indicator"
on the freezer outlet. I plugged an old UPS into the other side of the
outlet, where the water softener plugs in. If the power goes out it
hollers loud enough that I can hear it all the way to the top floor.