Pop ) said...

By the time a spike makes it
through the transformer on the pole, and all the
inductance in that xfmr, there isn't much of it left
for the house wiring, which in turn has a substantial
sinking ability due to the things plugged into it.

So why is so much money spent on surge suppressors?
Without getting into the whole-house versus power bar argument,
there is electrical noise that can effect electronic equipment
in varying degrees.

GFCIs are among the effected, often enough that you should not
use them on outlets powering refrigerators.

I'd be willing to bet money that no transient was at
work in this picture; it just doesn't fit the anecdotal
evidence.

It does, moreso since the original poster mentioned that there were
other loads downstream from the GFCI (the lights).

It would be a pretty rare occurance for a GFCI to trip off due to
transients flowing strictly due to the inductive and capacitive load
of the power line. I wouldn't say impossible, but think it is fair game
to say I have a better chance of winning a lottery.

But with a load of a few lights, there is a somewhat greater possibility
that noise might be "seen" by the GFCI as an imbalance.

If that's the case, then
there was an obvious reason for it tripping that anyone
worth their salt could have asked about, instead of
just that "they do that".

True. Unfortunately, there seems to be a common attitude of many
professionals to give such a terse answer to people outside their
profession.

--
Calvin Henry-Cotnam
"Never ascribe to malice what can equally be explained by incompetence."
- Napoleon
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