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Wednesday, March 23, 2022
Question:
Good Afternoon,
What is the difference between ground fault circuit interrupter protection and ground fault protection of equipment?
Drew Earle
A
Answer:
Hi Drew,
Thank you for participating. The difference between these two types of ground-fault protection is found in the definitions of each term. They both operate to clear ground fault events, but at different levels of fault current amperes.GFCIs protect people, GFPE protects equipment. The definitions from Article 100 indicate that a Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupter is a device intended for the protection of personnel that functions to de-energize a circuit or portion thereof within an established period of time when a current to ground exceeds the values established for a Class A device. Ground fault protection of equipment indicates that it is a system intended to provide protection of equipment from damaging line-to-ground fault currents by operating to cause a disconnecting means to open all ungrounded conductors of the faulted circuit. This protection is provided at current levels less than those required to protect conductors from damage through the operation of a supply circuit overcurrent device. See NEC Article 100.