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Old 12-01-14, 04:39 AM   #11
oil pan 4
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Have you ever seen a GFI fail?
When they fail catastrophically they put out a lot of heat then.

I have found that even after you turn off certain AV toys they still continue to suck down just as much power.
About like a wall warts power consumption when its unhooked versus actually charging or powering some small item.

I am thinking about buying one. The price on their base model units has just about been cut in have over the last 8 to 10 years.
I see anything from electrical trouble shooting, bearing health monitor, automotive, welding preheat and post heating, HVAC, energy use and conservation, security, extermination and hunting.

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Old 12-01-14, 01:48 PM   #12
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Quote:
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Have you ever seen a GFI fail?
Yes, I had one fail. I had placed it under the kitchen sink, and a 'leak situation' caused it to fail.

Since then I have learned that normal GFIs are not meant for wet area use, and that if you want to use a normal GDI, you need to locate it in it's own box, in a dry area, and then run lines to the area that could be wet.

Wet Area GFIs are also available.

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Originally Posted by oil pan 4 View Post
When they fail catastrophically they put out a lot of heat then.
I didn't notice that but I don't doubt that it would be true.

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Originally Posted by oil pan 4 View Post
I have found that even after you turn off certain AV toys they still continue to suck down just as much power.
About like a wall warts power consumption when its unhooked versus actually charging or powering some small item.
Yeah, that was my insight too, when I saw the Flir pix. It's horrible. I think that they were designed before "energystar" ratings happened, and that the very same functionality could be had at a small fraction of the wasted energy.

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I am thinking about buying one. The price on their base model units has just about been cut in have over the last 8 to 10 years.
I see anything from electrical trouble shooting, bearing health monitor, automotive, welding preheat and post heating, HVAC, energy use and conservation, security, extermination and hunting.
Great! I think that they are extremely useful.

But I rented mine specifically to check out house leaks, and I certainly got a To-Do list out of my experience.

For my use, it would be better to rent a unit and spend the money that a purchase would consume, on materials and time to implement the changes that I now realize need to be made.

Best,

-AC
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Old 12-04-14, 12:19 AM   #13
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I had a GFI catch fire at work after getting wet.
You absolutely can not let water get on them. When energized they react as if made from metallic sodium when they get wet.
I don't care what NEC says, I am not putting them down low where they can get wet or any where outside. In cases like that use a GFI breaker in the breaker box.
Until recently I actually liked the concept of GFI receptacles or remote GFIs, because GFI breakers tend to nuisance trip a lot.
I will take the nuisance trip prone breakers now.
Any GFI receptacle should have a cover on it IMO.

Also at the scrap yard several months ago, I found 20+ perfectly good GFI receptacles and one completely burned up and melted one.
I couldn't understand why someone would rip out several hundred dollars worth of new, perfectly good GFI receptacles and toss them.
Now I see why.

Last edited by oil pan 4; 12-04-14 at 12:25 AM..
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Old 12-04-14, 12:56 AM   #14
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...I couldn't understand why someone would rip out several hundred dollars worth of new, perfectly good GFI receptacles and toss them. Now I see why.
oil pan,

Good information here.

I think that 'Arc Fault' sensing receptacles and breaker box modules are being implemented in new construction now.

If I understand it correctly, Arc Fault units can sense an arcing condition in a line and cut power to that circuit when arcing occurs. This makes very good sense to me, because arcing generates tremendous heat, and is an ignition source.

I am not an expert on Electricity Code, at all. What I am relaying is scuttlebutt that I have heard from some friends who spend a lot more time with Code Books than I do.

So, it might be that the dumped GFI units were due to code upgrades.

I do know that under proper conditions, GFI units work very well. When I was doing my backyard hole-drilling and loop field installation, I was using a GFI protected circuit. I kept getting false-positives from the GFI, so I switched to another non GFI circuit... and that was when I received the shocking realization that I was working in the rain with ungrounded machinery, and that my equipment was "hot".

So, I do understand the legitimate role that GFIs play.

Best,

-AC
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Old 12-06-14, 08:41 AM   #15
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Cool Thread, following.
BTW what do you do for a living?
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Old 12-06-14, 08:29 PM   #16
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Cool Thread, following.
BTW what do you do for a living?
Formerly technical knowledge.

Now I raise hell full time.

-AC
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Old 12-07-14, 03:43 AM   #17
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Fluke VT02 Visual IR Thermometer
Less than $250 right now on Amazon. A little lower resolution than the vt04 and flir3 but at a price I can justify to myself.
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Old 12-07-14, 10:42 AM   #18
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I know a guy who works for Flir, and in a conversation with him, I was using the term "IR" and he corrected me, saying that thermal imaging was in a lower frequency range, and much harder to work with. He's a tech guy, not a marketing guy, so I tend to believe him.

But, regarding less expensive alternatives, if you have a compatible smartphone, there are thermal imaging options that leverage the phone and it's circuitry and operating system. So you're only buying part of a thermal Imager, but you're getting full benefit.

Here's the Flir version, some of the others may be even better...

I noticed that this version uses two cameras and it merges a visible image with a thermal image. It could be because this product's thermal image is very low resolution. on the other hand, this seems like it could be a good idea, because I was having a bit of difficulty, looking at the Flir 7 images and pinpointing exactly where a particular, small hot spot was.

BTW, other thermal imager/phone options were mentioned earlier in this thread.

-AC
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Old 12-07-14, 11:38 AM   #19
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Does FLIR make one for Samsung Galaxy?
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Old 12-07-14, 12:00 PM   #20
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Does FLIR make one for Samsung Galaxy?
In the thread, earlier up, I mentioned about three different units. There may be more that I don't know about.

Each brand will have a "required" page on their site.

Go for it!!

-AC

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