John B wrote
I wouldn't have GFCI anywhere except where code instucts it
to be present. The authors of the code are well-qualified to
direct this, and have decades of experience by now, on this
subject. They've heard it all.
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John,
The authors of the code are continually revising the code. That is to say,
they are continually replacing a previous less-than-perfect version of their
code with a better version. Do we wire our homes based upon the NEC
from 1986 which said that GFCIs weren't necessary in kitchens? I'm
certain that there were do-it-yourself types back in 1986 saying, "the authors
of the code are well-qualified to direct this .... I don't need to be wasting
money on GFCIs in my kitchen."
Do we endorse using ground as a neutral? I seem to recall this being ok in
some situations under the NEC not that long ago. It took the NEC 26 years
after the invention of the GFCI to require the device for kitchen outlets. It
took 32 years to require them near wet bars. This alone tells us that there
are times we we should use our intellect to decide if we want to exceed
the NEC requirements.
It is inevitable that the NEC will require GFCIs throughout the home within the
next 20 years or so. Some outlets are more dangerous than others, but they are
all capable of ground fault injury. Obviously the NEC will continue to exclude
certain dedicated branch circuits on which nuisance faults would be
unacceptable due to the "mission critical" nature of the appliances on those
dedicated lines.
As the demand for GFCIs goes up, production will increase and we will see the
inevitable economics of scale, with prices down around $3 or so each. Even
today you can purchase reliable, UL listed GFCIs for $5 or less. At that price
I can upgrade my entire house for below $150, which is about 0.05% of the
market value of my house. I spend many times more than that making my
lawn look pretty and green each summer.
FYI - I purchased 10 GFCIs on sale this weekend at $4.49 each. They are
well constructed, they grip the plug well, they make good electrical contact
with the prongs on the plug, they test out well and they are UL listed
(obviously).
I see little problem installing GFCIs on all of the recepticles in my house.
Of course, I will skip the dedicated circuits on which the cost of a nuisance
fault would outway the risk of a non-GFCI circuit. In my home, this includes
the dedicated ceiling outlet for my furnace, the outlet for my freezer, the
outlets for my refrigerators, the ceiling outlet for the garage door opener and
one outlet in my home office for my computers. The computers are all on
UPS systems, but I often leave the PCs unattended for many hours at a
time and the UPS systems only give me about a half hour.
My only reservation for other GFCI applications in my home is the compact
fluorescent lamps that I've got on some circuits. Obviously I'll check them
for nuisance tripping before installing GFCIs on those particular outlets.
Gideon
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