kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
Past GFCI requirements were mostly where risks seemed to be highest and at least partly considered statistics of where incidents were more commonly occurring. Was mostly limited to 15 and 20 amp 120 volt receptacles before. There are so many of those out there for one thing. Next is it is pretty common to see missing or compromised EGC pin on the cords. If you can assure the EGC is in good condition that greatly reduces the need for GFCI protection - and a reason why a hardwired item usually won't require GFCI but a similar cord and plug connected item does - it is the receptacle and it's location, not the load served that triggers GFCI requirements for most of 210.8.In all seriousness, even with the hassle it is bound to create, it seems like a fairly logical requirement in terms of personnel that are likely to be in potentially well grounded positions (ie. kneeling, laying, or leaning on concrete, metal, and earth) all while working with equipment, fed with power cords that can get old and abused, not to mention sharp edges and materials- that could in some worst case scenario come in contact with the conductor inside SO or whatever and become energized or expose the energized conductors to the surrounding environment.
Please do not kill me for that statement.
How many missing EGC pins have you ever seen on a 30 or 50 amp cord cap? I can't say I ever have. I'll even say I seldom if ever seen missing EGC pin on 6-15 or 6-20 cord caps. No need for people to break those off as you just don't run into non grounding receptacles for them.
I have no issue with the concept of GFCI's and do think they serve a good purpose but don't see they are a must have for this sort of thing as a general rule.