ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area "AFCI" And "Did Not Trip" videos

I saw these two videos on YOU Tube when watching that video in the Nostalgia forum I saw these two videos;
AFCI and Not working did not trip!
note that they both appear to have been uploaded by an old well-known ECN member.
In the video two of those Motel-Room hairdryers are shown being dropped into sinks full of water, now considering the two-wire cord, and the all plastic plumbing, why would doing this trip a GFI? there'd be no path to ground, until you stuck your hand in, right? and why is the other video titled "AFCI" no AFCI's are shown, is the poster trying too say that the hairdryer-in-the-sink would've tripped an AFCI? I didn't see any arcing, nor any other reason that an AFCI would've tripped.
comments anyone?
-Will A.K.A. Elviscat

I really hope that wasn't who I think it was doing that!

I had a customer once call me to their house saying that their GFCI was no good and proceeded to attempt the same thing in front of me! (as well as convince his local Home Depot to pull all their Leviton GFCI's off the shelf) I had to explain to him that in order for the GFCI to operate their needs to be a path someplace other than back to the receptacle (like metal plumbing, your body, etc...) I advised him that the manufacturer's instructions to simply use the test and reset buttons were the most reliable way for him to check these himself...

Stuff like this floating around the internet is only going to give Henry DIY a BAD idea, in thinking he's found a superior GFCI tester! Just wait until the GFCI really doesn't work and Joe Blow slips and lands his hands in the sink with the dryer

Hmm, I thought the GFI I see would have tripped, at least when there was water flowing into the sink. Should the flow of water from the tap (second video, steady stream, no bubbles from the tap's aerator) not provided a "grounding" path regardless if the pipes are plastic or not?

A.D

Time for a little 'nit-picking.'

As we all knoe, there is no AFCI involved. Nor, matter of fact, is a GFI built into the hair dryer plug. I believe the correct name is "immersion curent limiting device" or some such. While, by every description I have read, this thing is supposed to operate like a GFI, it seems that the testing protocols are different somehow.

For the thing to work, water has to get into it. I notice that this did not happen in the first video until the switch was submerged. Even in the second video, water may not have actually reached any live parts.

OR - and this is certainly possible - the product had a sham device, and a counterfeit UL lable. When a foreign country supports the counterfeiting of such things, nothing short of a naval blocade will have much chance of making any difference.

Just, for the sake of argument, assume the device is legit. Having the element in the water is no sure path to current leakage; it wasn't so long ago that every coffee pot and deep fryer had immersed elements. Many still do.
Likewise, a bathroom tends to be a humid, corrosive place. I would not be surprised to find that the manufacturer had coated everything inside with a clear laquer. This would also serve as an insulator.

As I see it, things like GFI's ought to be treated like parachutes ... you do everything you can to make sure they're never needed!

(Then again, I'm old enought to remember when skydiving was dangerous .... and sex was safe! )

Possible all PVC plumbing with no ground path?
However, even though the water itself may not be a good conductor of current such as pure H2O, I find it very intriguing that there wouldn't be 5ma of current flowing through and path that does exist.

Regardless of what may or may not be built in to the hairdryer, the outlet that it is plugged into is required to be GFCI protected.

That said it should not operate without a ground fault path.

Randy,
I couldn't agree more, mate!.
Things like this being on a site like Youtube, can only be bad from an electrical safety point of view.

Maybe it's time to lobby the manufacturers for an "IFCI" (Idiot Fault Circuit Interuptor) or some sort of water sensor in the hair dryer....

Rewired- I was taking a bit of a closer look at that video, and while the water's flowing the camera pans to the guy reseting the little GFI on the plug several times, and the red "on" light blinking, so I think the whatever-it-is on the cord for the dryer may have actually tripped while the water was flowing...

Elviscat, it looks more like whoever this is, is just pressing the red button making and breaking the internal contacts himself.... the point of doing that?