Olin,

On Sun, 23 Apr 2006 12:59:59 -0400, Olin Lathrop wrote:

> Peter van Hoof wrote:
> > There are three different ways they are applied. The most common being
> > built in an outlet (sometimes looped to additional outlets that are
> > also protected). There are devices such as a hairdrier that have them
> > built in the plug and finally the least common the housewide systems
> > where the main line coming into the house has one built in that
> > provides protection to the whole house.
> 
> A fourth and fairly common scheme here is GFI circuit breakers for
> individual circuits.  These fit in place like ordinary circuit breaker but
> cost somewhat more and trip on a ground fault in addition to excess current.
> I've used them on some new circuits I installed in the basement.

We have those too, known as "RCBO" (Residual Current Breaker, Overcurrent) but they are quite rarely used 
because they are darned expensive!  If you replaced all the Miniature Circuit Breakers with RCBOs, you'd 
probably multiply the parts-cost by 5 to 8 times.  It's the neatest solution, because it only shuts down the 
circuit with the problem, but most people wouldn't want to pay the extra, and most electricians wouldn't 
recommend it.

Cheers,


Howard Winter
St.Albans, England


-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist