Comm. kitchen gfci

Status
Not open for further replies.
ceb58

ceb58

Senior Member
Location
Raeford, NC
th_ls002.jpg
th_ls001.jpg


Some times you see first hand why there are code changes. I got a call yesterday afternoon from a local chain steak house. The manager said they saw and smelled "electrical" smoke in the kitchen and could I come check it out. When I got there no smoke, no smell. Looking around I spotted a wall recpt. with no cover and bottom side of recp. missing. I told the mang. that it was waiting to kill some one. A glass front refg. and a salad cooler were plugged into this recp. The back corner of the refg.frame was against the cord caps. While giving a price to replace a worker opened the refg. door to remove something they let the door slam on the refg. and we then found where the smoke was coming from. After moving a 3'x4' stainless steel table sitting in front of the panels was I able to find the correct breaker. Replaced with GFCI and filled out bill. Emerg. call out on Sunday of course! The cord cap in photo was to the salad cooler which has been slightly warm. The recp. is in the same shape in photo is same as it was in wall.
 
stickboy1375 said:
Nice find! Why the loose connection? what was the actual problem?
Click to expand...
The frame of refg. was against the cord caps. Every time the door was opened they would let it slam shut causing the refg. to keep bumping the caps. After repeated slamming it had had enough.
 
480sparky said:
Not sure if a GFI would have helped there.

An AFCI, maybe......
Click to expand...

Remember it is not the intent of GFCIs to protect equipment, they are to protect people and a GFCI in this case could prevent the frame of the unit from becoming energized.
 
480sparky said:
Not sure if a GFI would have helped there.

An AFCI, maybe......
Click to expand...
An AFCI does not directly detect a poor or high resistance connection. It only reacts when the heat causes enough insulation damage to create a parallel arcing fault or a ground fault with the second being the most common for systems with an EGC.
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
An AFCI does not directly detect a poor or high resistance connection. It only reacts when the heat causes enough insulation damage to create a parallel arcing fault or a ground fault with the second being the most common for systems with an EGC.
Click to expand...
The new one do series faults as well as parallel faults. Wouldn't that trip if there is a bad connection at the recep.??
 
480sparky said:
Not sure if a GFI would have helped there.
Click to expand...
If the short circuit was from hot leg to neutral leg, the GFCI would not detect any problem. If the short was from hot leg to the ground wire, the GFCI would trip.
 
charlie b said:
If the short circuit was from hot leg to neutral leg, the GFCI would not detect any problem. If the short was from hot leg to the ground wire, the GFCI would trip.
Click to expand...

If there were shorts involved, a GFI would not even be needed.....:wink:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top