The 2008 NEC has eliminated most of the exceptions for GFCI installations. That means sump pumps, furnace condensate pumps, and in the garage, the garage door operator receptacle must be protected. many people do not carry house keys, they use the door operator. When that trips and locks out the owner, expect a complaint. I can only suggest routing the door operator receptacle through an outdoor, accessable GFCI so it can be reset.
In the basement start installing battery back up sump pumps.
Freezer manufacturers should start putting in battery alarms for power loss.
90.1 refers to the practical safeguarding and inconvienience. It seems to some that practical got lost and inconvienience now includes property loss or damage.

When do you suppose that we are going to have to go back to the age-old assumption that electricity is dangerous when not handled properly? It seems as if we got along without GFCIs, AFCIs and T-R receptacles for over a century and now electricity is too dangerous for our own good? I know, I know, safety is one thing, but this is getting ridiculous.

Of course, the argument is that we use electricity much more than we did even thirty years ago. Safety wasn't as much of an issue. Still, I don't remember ever hearing of mass numbers of accidental electrocutions.

It is going to take years of inconvenience, flooded basements or spoiled food due to nuisance tripping before the general publics outcries are heard by the code writing panels. I'm sure that the manufacturers won't be happy about this, but come on...

I can't tell you how many service calls we still get for tripped GFI receptacles. With today's typical house filled with a dozen reset buttons scattered all over the place, Harry Homeowner is going to figure out a way to put an end to this situation quickly.

Ev, you raise some good points.

I agree that the past few code cycles have shown a dramatic increase of involvement in what I consider to be "design" issues.

I disagree as to the public outcry ever being heard by the code panels, though. Instead, the occupant is simply going to replace the devices with ones he likes.

I don't expect this to bother the 'code wonks' one bit. Rather, they will run around with their cameras, snapping pictures that they can present with gusto at the next seminar they run. I have to marvel at the person who can point to a non-TR receptacle on the ceiling of a garage, and piously insist there's a risk that some kid will poke a paperclip into it!

The good news is that modern freezers and pumps are far less likely to trip the latest version of the GFCI. These days, when someone has a nuisance trippping problem, it's quite likely that there is a problem with the appliance - not the GFI.

I do wonder how we managed to make it this far ... why, we rode bike without helmets, rode in cars without seat belts or car seats, cooled our homes with freon, and had real sugar in our soft drinks

I don't think the issue is "modern" refrigerators as much as simply "new" refrigerators. When they get old they develop ground faults inside the compressors.
Since the old one is the most likely to be the one in the basement or garage, expect to get calls.

The problem is also in new installations, even restaurants. Within days of completing a restaurant last year, I was getting calls about the GFCI breakers tripping. All the equipment was new and good quality. I did check the drink mixers, coffee machines, compressors and other equipment for resistance to ground with a 120 volt D.C. megger test. All of it seemed to be OK. I tested all of the 40 different circuits with an Ideal Sure Test and they all tested exactly the same. The breakers tripped in about 6 milliseconds at about 5 milliamps, as I recall. I did check some of the wiring with a megger as well, no problem. I also checked some of the neutrals to be sure that they were not crossed. I also checked for shorts between the neutrals and grounds. The breakers (bolt-on Siemens) seemed to be well made and were in four different panelboards. The wiring was thhn in conduit, both emt and pvc.

After spending a day there, I had no answer other than inductive and capacitive type loads on GFCI breakers are maybe not compatible. I have had this problem at other restaurants that I have wired over the years.

One of the results of this type of problem as some of you have alluded to is that customers then come to not trust either the work of the electrician or the equipment they install and seek to bypass the protective features by installing different devices just so they can have reliable power for either homes or businesses. They do not know who to believe when they are told that we cannot fix their problem without violating the code. What the heck do we do?

When do they trip?
I know most commercial kitchens get hosed or steamed down every night. That is why they have all those floor drains.

Well, while we are on the topic of complaints, does anyone remember those goofy little 22,000 AIC micro fuses that were required in high-density housing in lieu of main breakers? Man, those things would blow at the drop of the hat. I just thought of them when I stopped by to look at the remodeling progress of a 1986 townhouse that I'm getting ready to rent. The place had been winterized and had all utilities cut off a few weeks ago. Sure enough, when we went to plug the pullout back in, *poof* went one of the fuses! As I'm sure you know, these aren't home center items either.

Back in the days when I was doing service work, we blew them all the time just trying to change a switch while hot. One slip and you guessed it...*poof*. Of course, our company made us pay for them. I seem to recall that they were about $12.00 a piece which took a big bite out of a 1982 pay check after a few slips.

Man, I have a feeling I'm going to be replacing that panel before I even move in and I don't even own the place.

I guess we here in NJ are fortunate for now. The adopted 2008 NEC here, excluded the new GFI requirements, and we still use the 2005 requirements. But, now we have to deal with AFCI's finally.

Most GFI problems I had as an EC were the result of the item that was plugged in, and a few bad GFI devices.

All I can say is look who sits on the code making panels. The manufactures of equipment that is "Required" to be in the new codes.

Why would you have to GFI a garage door opener unless you install it in a strange place it would not be at grade level. As in 210.8(A)(2) Exception No. 1 to (2)

Mike, those exceptions are all gone in 2008

North of 49 we are getting more and more GFCI protection requirements but thankfully no where near as many as you NEC guys do. Pretty much outdoor receptacles for dwelling units within 2.5 meters of grade, Outlets within 1.5 meters of any sink and within 3 meters of a pool. Hot tubs and some pool equipment. heat tracing but only GF protection is required, never mind that most use GFCI protection. I'll fail a job that wires a sump pump through a GFCI but not a gfi. For any that don't know a gfci trips at 6 ma of leakage and a gfi allows up to 30 ma. Neither of these are the same as ground fault protection for large services.
Are the citizens of the US really that much at risk? I have been to lots of places where there are hardly any trained electricians and no codes but I haven't seen bodies dead in the street yet?
I think we are going insane trying to protect from every possible hazard. Life is fatal and no risk, isn't living. Heck you can die from sitting too much. Really how does a 2 million dollar scanner actually make flying safe? Maybe teaching our border guards how to behaviour profile and recognize that currently Swedes are not high on the list of terror countries might make security focused. Sorry I am off on a tangent.

That is really dumb!Hopefully it will be deleted at the next code change

I guess you guys don't remember the story about the kid that got killed on the energized garage door.
Granted there were a couple of problems that contributed to this but a GFCI would have tripped before he died.

Nope, I missed that story.

I've posted a fair number of pictures here over the years, and I try to choose each picture so as to focus on but one code issue.

Alas, it has proven nearly impossible to take a picture with but one flaw in it. Instead, when a hack is at work, there seems to be an urge to break as many rules as possible.

It's not that I rejoice when someone gets hurt, it's just that I nearly always find that there were so many things going wrong it's amazing it took so long for the accident to happen. Did I say accident? Some of these jobs look like a deliberate effort was made to cause injury.

There is also, dare I say it, some value to the doctrines behind cost/benefit analysis. To prevent cuts, we could outfit kitchens with rubber knives; just don't expect much cooking to get done! (Lest you think I'm being silly, have you seen the 'knives' some warehouses expect their folks to use? Ask the guy at Graybar to show you his!)

I think Alan (The OP) has a point: the ever-expanding quest to make things perfect has no place in code; it's a design issue.

We have other threads going right now that address other aspects of this quest to make things 'accident proof.' One thread references one man's campaign to do away with GFCI devices, and place the protection at the panel. Another thread details the difficulty of finding a problem that is 'somewhere' in the house wiring.

We can't just 'put in a GFCI' and expect stupidity to go away. Nor can we expect life to be completely without risk. It's too easy to say 'what if' ... but at some point it's wrong to inflict a burden on all in an attempt to shelter the one.

We also cannot ignore the other agenda of those claiming there's a 'safety crisis' to be addressed. We regularily see all manner of campaigns receive their 3 months of prominence, then disappear when somebody gets what they want - while the original issue remains forgotten.

To be fair, no single group, like manufacturers, are permitted to have more than 1/3 the seats on any code panel. It takes a 2/3s majority to approve a change.

That being said, it does seem that the manufacturers have an undo influence on adopting rules that help their bottom line.

I have to agree with Don.

I read the ROP for the 2011NEC (all seemingly zillion pages of it) and there were many instances where a single product, technology or manufacturer was proposed to be added as a requirement and pretty much every one of them was rejected.

If it's a product or idea that is grounded in substantial justification, it gets much further through the process, but just trying to get your unique widget adopted as a requirement rarely flies with the CMP.

And even if it does gets recommended by the CMP, it has to go through the public comment phase and enough comments against the CMP recommendation can still get it blocked.

How about someone making a gizmo that detects when the GFI trips with a noise and flashing LED to let the occupant know that it has tripped. Even with a couple of AAA batteries it shouldn't be much bigger than a cell phone and could plug into any receptacle that is protected.
It could even be built so the appliance plugs into it and then into the receptacle. Wouldn't have to since it is detecting loss of power on the line side, but it would be convenient.
Alan

Alan, I think you have a moneymaking idea.
You should be able to sell tons of them to folks worried about losing power and not knowing about it until it's too late.
You could make it 'chirp' like the battery powered smoke alarms so the battery would last longer when sounding the alarm. Once every minute or so would be noticeable but not annoying.
Just remember to include a switch to shut it up in case the whole neighborhood is out to keep from driving everyone in the house nuts.

Ghost,
We have a similar thing over here for our DIN Rail mounted breakers, in the form of a device that clips onto the rail next to any given breaker, it has a pin that inserts into the side of the breaker and connects with a part that moves when the breaker trips.
Effectively all it is, is a NO contact that you hook up to a piezo unit (also mounted on the DIN Rail) and power it from the panel.

The GFI receptacles we install have an indicator light that shows power to the receptacle

I see GFI receptacles with LED's that are illuminated when the power is 'on'; some illuminated when the GF is tripped; a few that are illuminated both 'on' and tripped. Even funnier....they could all be in the same job!

I agree. I have both types at my house, bought at different times.

Greg:
I can understand the 'differences' over time....but I was alluding to seeing that on a 'final' for 23 condos. Story I heard is the EC has a 'source' down your way that is super economical! Guess ya get what ya pay for!

I just installed two in a tire shop and they both indicated different

Rewire:
Same brand? Same model?

same brand same model one was older stock

Here in NJ garage door receptacles do not have to be GFI protected. That is an exception to the NEC adopted by NJ. It is not readily accessible. However they do have to be TR receptacles. Go figure!