According to the National Fire Protection Association and the National Fire Incident Reporting System data, the five-year period from 1994 to 1998 averaged 73,500 annual electrical fires that were ...

Q. In the past you’ve written about special outlets for the garage. What should I install? I’m selling my house to my son and I want everything to be safe. A. Your question is timely because I ...

Now's a good time to test GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) outlets. These special electric receptacles, found in kitchens, bathrooms and outdoors, are designed to prevent electrocution or shock ...

Residential electrical branch circuit breakers incorporate electronic and electrical technology in Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters that can turn off power to prevent fires if arcing occurs. This ...

A core-balance protection device serves as an example of how these switches operate. Phase and neutral power conductors pass through a toroidal (differential) current transformer. Under normal ...

Question: You talked about a ground fault circuit interrupter and that it’s necessary in different places in the home. My home was built in the 1950s, and I don’t ...

Fig 1. Placing this two-terminal circuit between a GFCI line-load terminal and ground creates an adjustable line-voltage limiter. Fig 2. With the trip point set at 133 V rms, the circuit draws less ...

What is ground-fault protection? The answer depends on whether you are talking about ground-fault protection of equipment or ground-fault protection of people. Just because ground-fault protection is ...

Q–My bathroom has a ground fault circuit interrupter outlet next to the sink, as required by law. However, we have a regular outlet on the outdoor patio next to the house, but this has no GFCI. I had ...

What is this new circuit breaker, the Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter (AFCI), and how is it better than the circuit breakers (CBs) we have? Let me tell you a little story. Recently, I was working in a ...