Will GFCI work with items without equipment ground
I know it's probably a dumb question but my wife's hair dryer is old and has no equipment ground. Wanted to be sure she is still protected if it should be dropped into water or otherwise shorted.
Forum Discussion
ktmrfs wrote:wa8yxm wrote:
Will it work: Perfectly
Does the GFCI care. On some of 'em the safety ground is not even connected.
the ground lug better be connected on a GFCI outlet or it is a code violation. And GFCI outlets sold today detect ground/neutral bonding so they must have a connection to the downstream ground.
If you have a safety ground conductor available, indeed it must be connected properly, both per the electric code and per common sense.
If you have an old electric system which lacks a safety ground, it is permissible by code to install a GFCI and so be able to plug in three prong cords (for grounded devices) without rewiring everything. Such an outlet must be labeled as not having an actual safety ground. Absent the GFCI, only ungrounded (two prong) outlets would be permitted to be installed.
Current GFCIs do detect ground/neutral shorts upstream and trip if they are found. I don't believe any of them require that ground and neutral be bonded downstream, but perhaps I am misinformed on that. It's not a universal requirement at any rate.
