4 ms·

Well, a GFCI (elsewhere known as RCCB, residual-current circuit breaker) is a circuit breaker in the very literal sense that it breaks the circuit when it detec

Well, a GFCI (elsewhere known as RCCB, residual-current circuit breaker) is a circuit breaker in the very literal sense that it breaks the circuit when it detects a current leak. But it's not exactly a fuse: if all current goes where current is supposed to go, a ground defect circuit breaker does nothing. About the previous post: that ""a laptop so powerful that it blew the fuses"" is rubbish. Even a powerful laptop doesn't eat so much current that it would blow a fuse - unless the circuit is already nearly overloaded, in which case even the slightest power consumption may blow the fuse, and that tells nothing about the power consumption of the laptop. (Used to have a kitchen where the tumble drier had to be turned off if you wanted to use the microwave or a tea kettle.)

cardiffspaceman 10y ago
In most jurisdictions you wouldn't be able to build the house in such a way that such obviously-used-at-the-same-time devices would end up on the same circuit. Source: Am about to be the client of an electrical contractor due to a remodel that has to be done to code.
- yardie 10y ago
  You can't build a new house that way. I've lived in some very old places where the underlying electrical system is absolutely terrifying, i.e. AC wires wrapped in waxed paper. I also believe the poster is in the UK. Older homes use a ring system where the breaker is at each outlet and there is one main breaker for the entire house, there is no breaker panel in the American/European sense.
  - ptaipale 10y ago
    Yes, I had those waxed paper insulated wires. You really don't want to touch them. This was in Finland, and the house was built by a refugee family at a time when building materials were difficult to get. It was in fact surprisingly good, but still the original electric works plus 50 years of DYI maintenance produced some interesting results, like disintegrating insulations and ground wires not connected to anything. The woodworks of the house were very good but fixing the electricity, heating and plumbing was hopeless.
- ptaipale 10y ago
  Yes, you can't do that here either, not since 1960's. This house was built in 1948 and the whole electric system was behind a single 230 V phase with a 25 A main fuse. The kitchen was behind one 10 A fuse, except for the stove which was behind a 16 A fuse. Amazingly, I never blew up the main fuse. (It was a nice house in many ways but I realised that fixing everything would cost too much, so I built a new one next to it and demolished the old one.)

cardiffspaceman 10y ago

In most jurisdictions you wouldn't be able to build the house in such a way that such obviously-used-at-the-same-time devices would end up on the same circuit. Source: Am about to be the client of an electrical contractor due to a remodel that has to be done to code.

yardie 10y ago
You can't build a new house that way. I've lived in some very old places where the underlying electrical system is absolutely terrifying, i.e. AC wires wrapped in waxed paper. I also believe the poster is in the UK. Older homes use a ring system where the breaker is at each outlet and there is one main breaker for the entire house, there is no breaker panel in the American/European sense.
- ptaipale 10y ago
  Yes, I had those waxed paper insulated wires. You really don't want to touch them. This was in Finland, and the house was built by a refugee family at a time when building materials were difficult to get. It was in fact surprisingly good, but still the original electric works plus 50 years of DYI maintenance produced some interesting results, like disintegrating insulations and ground wires not connected to anything. The woodworks of the house were very good but fixing the electricity, heating and plumbing was hopeless.
ptaipale 10y ago
Yes, you can't do that here either, not since 1960's. This house was built in 1948 and the whole electric system was behind a single 230 V phase with a 25 A main fuse. The kitchen was behind one 10 A fuse, except for the stove which was behind a 16 A fuse. Amazingly, I never blew up the main fuse. (It was a nice house in many ways but I realised that fixing everything would cost too much, so I built a new one next to it and demolished the old one.)