GFCI Breakers for Dummies

GFCI receptacle (top) and breaker (bottom)

Just about every day our staffers turn up yet more freelancers perfectly willing to demonstrate their ignorance for a pocketful of change. The love of money, it appears, is the root of hella dumbassery (to paraphrase the Bible¹). One of the common themes among greedlancers at the former eHow.com is misinterpretation of a question, usually to make it easier to answer (we see that crap a lot). That's today's theme, returning DotD Tom Lutzenberger and his post, "How to Troubleshoot GFCI Breakers"² at the mother site.

Tom, herein making his twelfth trip to the podium, dove straight into the task of redefining "GFCI breaker":

"Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters, also known as GFCI outlets [emphasis ours], help prevent electrical fires and shocks in rooms where electrical outlets are placed near sources of water... In every situation, the breaker plug has a safety switch in the outlet that cuts power to the outlet if the circuit is overloaded."

See what he did there? Whether ignorant of GFCI breakers or just trying to avoid the topic; Lutzenberger dodged the question and, instead, concentrated on GFCI outlets. After all, many people know about ground-fault interrupter receptacles – including Tom, apparently – but you need to have looked into your breaker box and seen a switch with a yellow stripe or outline to know that there are also GFCI breakers, which control the circuit from beginning to end at the source.

As Lutzenberger said (copied from his source, no doubt), GFCI receptacles,

"...are located in kitchens and bathrooms as well as in the garage."

In reality, GFCI receptacles aren't just found in kitchens, bathrooms, and garages; they are required by code wherever there is water. That includes around your pool or hot tub and any exterior outlets. Modern electricians will sometimes install a GFCI breaker for all the exterior plugs and lighting rather than individual outlets; thereby protecting the entire circuit. That's what a GFCI breaker does, and to test it you do not,

"Press the 'reset' button on the malfunctioning outlet..."

...regardless of what Tom wrote. We note in passing that pressing the reset button is not troubleshooting, anyway. Whatever the case, troubleshooting a GFCI breaker is more involved than just looking for whatever "appliance" tripped it. You also need to test the circuit for faults due to other causes, such as faulty wiring or even rodent damage. That's not to mention that, like any mechanical device, GFCIs can wear out over time.
Lutzenberger's simplistic solution is not a solution at all, not to mention that if you have a ground-fault interrupter breaker, you'll never find it by looking at your outlets. That's a Dumbass of the Day version of troubleshooting breakers, IYAU.

¹ 1 Timothy 6:10, if you're curious.
² The original has been deleted by Leaf Group, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   ehow.com/how_8516642_troubleshoot-gfci-breakers.html

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