GFCI receptacle lights and buttons

[Donald]

The new GFI receptacles must self test at some interval. It may be called auto monitoring. The reality is no homeowner went around monthly testing all the GFI every month.

But apparently even with the self test it's not as full a test as pushing the button to do a test. So that should be done monthly also.

 

[y_p_w]

The new GFI receptacles must self test at some interval. It may be called auto monitoring. The reality is no homeowner went around monthly testing all the GFI every month.

But apparently even with the self test it's not as full a test as pushing the button to do a test. So that should be done monthly also.

There is some sort of self monitoring, but it's not a substitute for the manual test function. I understand that the self-test can check to see if the electrical detection part is working, but not that the mechanical breaker is working.

 

[Donald]

There is some sort of self monitoring, but it's not a substitute for the manual test function. I understand that the self-test can check to see if the electrical detection part is working, but not that the mechanical breaker is working.

Exactly. But most people don't press the test button until there is an issue where something plugged in does not work.

 

[JHZR2]

Back to the OP, it’s interesting that there is a replace light. This makes for another piece of time limited equipment that needs to be replaced at substantial cost ($12 Chinese outlet vs $2 US made standard outlet), more often.

I get and appreciate the benefits of GFCI and AFCI. And safety is critical. They say the NEC is written in blood. But I do wonder about how companies will use such lights to put timelines on their products in order to sell more…

 

[Donald]

Back to the OP, it’s interesting that there is a replace light. This makes for another piece of time limited equipment that needs to be replaced at substantial cost ($12 Chinese outlet vs $2 US made standard outlet), more often.

I get and appreciate the benefits of GFCI and AFCI. And safety is critical. They say the NEC is written in blood. But I do wonder about how companies will use such lights to put timelines on their products in order to sell more…

I had a poorly designed outdoor outlet box fill with water and short out the GFI outlet and start to burn melting the outlet. Luckily the box contained it. And the breaker tripped. That circuit now has an arc fault breaker.