The same situation could happen in any other wet environment.
Such as fish tank: salt water spilled on the floor where you stand
combined with a faulty electric device submersed in the water where you
put your hands can be very deadly combination and that is the reason
smart people recommend GFCI for us to power fish tanks equipment from.

Right, Especially on concrete! (Giant solid gelatin).... But what about
wood flooring or Carpet? The majority of aquarium devices do not include
grounds in their cords. However they really should. A ground probe provides
a positive ground to the tank to trip the GFCI immediately in case of a
problem. It is just an added safety measure. However, like you I believe the
other stuff is hocus pocus snake oil.....

However, after saying that, imagine the fact that the entire tank
essentially becomes a Faraday Cage once the ground it inserted. More physics
than I would like to think about this early. I am sure that a book could be
written about this subject if studied in a lab. Only then would such
discussions be resolved. Until then this is just opinion versus opinion....


"Pszemol" wrote in message
...
"Stephen" wrote in message
...
GFCI's are installed in bathrooms and kitchens because you are literally
surrounded by potential grounds. The plumbing system! Running Water!
Metal
Basins! etc...

The same situation could happen in any other wet environment.
Such as fish tank: salt water spilled on the floor wehre you stand
combined with a faulty electric device submersed in the water where you
put your hands can be very deadly combination and that is the reason
smart people recommend GFCI for us to power fish tanks equipment from.

You can hold an AC hot wire and not get shocked if you are not
grounded....

Right. Is there anybody claiming anything else here?
See my "birds sitting on a 20kV wire" example... :-)

Not the name is GROUND FAULT CIRCUIT INTERRUPTER... You have to have a
ground fault to trip the circuit interrupter....

I hope you do not derive all your knowledge about GFCI from its name ;-)

I can easily imagine a scenario when GFCI will trip when grounding
will be perfect and DO NOT trip when grounding is faulty...
If your imagination does not work for some reason I can give you
full description of such scenarios.
Is then the GFCI name wrong? Let's change it! ;-)