AFCI/GFCI bulls eye

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GoldDigger said:
In which case a dedicated circuit or individual GFCI receptacle makes sense. But not a receptacle whose self test opens the circuit on failure.

Or, of course, an alarm and someone always at home.....
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I have always been amazed how worried electrians get over food in a freezer.

Freezers break down, power companies have outages etc.

If it is that critical a UPS with generator should be installed along with a refrigeration alarm that can email people. :D
 
GoldDigger said:
In which case a dedicated circuit or individual GFCI receptacle makes sense. But not a receptacle whose self test opens the circuit on failure.

Or, of course, an alarm and someone always at home.....
Click to expand...
The UL standard for the self-testing GFCIs does not require that it open the circuit. It is permitted to do so, but it is also permitted to just give an audio and/or a visual alarm without opening the circuit.
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
The UL standard for the self-testing GFCIs does not require that it open the circuit. It is permitted to do so, but it is also permitted to just give an audio and/or a visual alarm without opening the circuit.
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And since I doubt it is user configurable, it is a good idea to know what type you get and use the one that best matches your safety versus reliability needs.
 
A freezer can fail and leave you with spoiled food even if it never loses supply power, a temperature monitoring alarm is your best bet, and if you seldom are in the vicinity of the freezer to notice the alarm, you can get more complicated units that can integrate with home security or other systems to notify you there is a problem. If freezer is in the garage - chances are the home occupant passes through there almost daily to get in their car. Food in the freezer doesn't thaw the instant the power is lost - a full freezer could make it for several hours or even a day or two before food gets to the point it is compromised.
 
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