A GFI or Ground Fault Interrupter compares the current flowing in the hot
and neutral leads of your power cord. If they are more than something like
5-15 milliamps out of balance, it shuts the power off to the outlet.

Why, you ask? Because all the current flowing in the hot lead should also
be flowing in the neutral lead. If you are in the process of getting a
shock, some of that current is flowing through you and to ground via a path
that doesn't include the neutral conductor. At about 15 milliamps, this
can become dangerous, hence the 15 mA limit.


Paul Goelz
Rochester Hills, MI

If I am powering a piece of electronic equipment from a GFI outlet
and the equipment's AC plug only has two prongs won't this trip the
outlet because the electronic equipment probably returns all it's
current to chassis ground via resistors to ground etc? Is this a
dumb question?

Chris Frye

Silver Spring, MD

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