Brother just called, he got shocked by a drop cord on a GFCI

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hockeyoligist2

Senior Member
He said that he picked up the cord, which has some sort of a metal ring around the female plug. He got a bad (according to him) shock and the GFCI didn't trip. I am going to look at it tomorrow, should it have tripped?
 

SEO

Senior Member
Location
Michigan
A working GFCI class A should trip between 4 & 6 milli amps. A person could feel a good jolt before reaching the 4 to 6 ma of a working GFCI.
 

don_resqcapt19

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Illinois
Occupation
retired electrician
First the GFCI could be working fine. There is no way of knowing how much current was flowing and for how long. The amount of current and the amount of time may have been under the time current trip curve. The UL standard permits the GFCI to take up to 7 seconds to trip with a 5mA ground fault. Most will trip much quicker, but the standard permits 7 seconds at that fault level.
Of course the GFCI could be bad...use the built in test button to test it.
 

cadpoint

Senior Member
Location
Durham, NC
I thought the metal band was not allowed for certain applications, frankly I thought there was already some paper on it ...

Buy them a plug for Christmas! :D
 

hockeyoligist2

Senior Member
Update

Update

The metal on the cord end that shocked him had worn in to the wire. The old type with the metal ring and clamp on it. The rubber sleeve was missing inside the clamp.

Since it was a 150' heavy duty cord with no other obvious defects, I put a new, all plastic, end on for him instead of tossing it.

I plugged my tester in to the cord after I finished and the GFCI tripped.

He paid me with 2 pounds of fresh off the boat jumbo shrimp that he brought back from Charleston Tue. ! I'm cooking shrimp and grits for supper!
 

wireguru

Senior Member
The metal on the cord end that shocked him had worn in to the wire. The old type with the metal ring and clamp on it. The rubber sleeve was missing inside the clamp.

Since it was a 150' heavy duty cord with no other obvious defects, I put a new, all plastic, end on for him instead of tossing it.

I plugged my tester in to the cord after I finished and the GFCI tripped.

He paid me with 2 pounds of fresh off the boat jumbo shrimp that he brought back from Charleston Tue. ! I'm cooking shrimp and grits for supper!

those plugs are the worst. Nothing but hubbell or leviton industrial grade over here. glad he is ok.
 
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