Why install GFCIs?
More people are killed each year by common household voltage than by all other kinds of high voltage combined. But a ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) can keep a minor incident from becoming a fatality. GFCIs are designed to protect people from an electrical shock. How do GFCIs Work? Most household circuits have electrical current flowing to and from receptacles, switches and other devices on two wires: the hot wire (usually covered in black insulation) and the neutral wire (usually covered in white). Each wire should have an equal amount of current flowing on it. If not, electricity is leaking from the circuit in search of a path back to the ground, a condition known as ground fault. If you happen to be using a receptacle or other device on that circuit, that electricity could flow through you and give you a bad shock. GFCIs monitor the difference between the hot and the neutral wires and instantly break the circuit if they detect an imbalance. While a standard breaker won’t tri
