GFCI Outlets Are Vital Part of Swimming Pool Safety

I recently read an article about a young girl who was killed by moving a lamp or some electrical appliance around a pool deck.

The article said the appliance was plugged into an outlet that was in a garage. I am so upset. I thought all pool outlets had to be protected by some state-of-the-art system to prevent this kind of accident.

Evansville

I understand your anxiety when accidents like this happen so close to our own neighborhoods, especially when the accidents are preventable. I have tried to educate the public about the importance of the ground-fault circuit interrupter or GFCI outlets over the past 15 years by writing more than 22 articles, which I was able to retrieve from the newspaper archives at www.courierpress.com.

The GFCI device detects a leak of current and trips the breaker inside the outlet or at the circuit breaker, which then prevents extreme exposure to an electrical shock. Although pools are required by code to have GFCI protected outlets at or near the pool, not all communities enforce the electrical codes in effect.

In this particular case the accident happened because an extension cord was used to plug an appliance into an outlet located in a garage and the garage outlet was not, and may not have been required to be, GFCI protected.

We should make it our responsibility to warn the public about the dangers of using any electrical appliance near water and the dangers of using extra-long extension cords around the home. When the resistance to electrical current is greater through an extension cord than through the electrical appliance being used, the electrical current can seek the least path of resistance to the ground and the current can enter and exit the human body causing serious injury or death.

Even when a circuit is properly protected by a fuse, circuit breaker or GFCI, people need to be made aware of the dangers of mixing electricity and water because a GFCI can fail over time or be improperly installed.

Here are the GFCI rules as I understand them: Use a GFCI protected outlet or circuit breaker at all kitchen countertop and bathroom outlets, near a bar or laundry sink, for garage and outside outlets, for at least one outlet in an unfinished basement and for outlets in a crawl space and to protect outlets and other electrical equipment at or near a pool or a fountain.

Test the GFCI outlets and breakers by tripping and resetting the devices once a month, and do not use two or more extension cords in series. I hope this helps get the word out.

Evansville resident C. Dwight Barnett is a certified master inspector with the American Society of Home Inspectors. Write to him with home improvement questions at C. Dwight Barnett, Evansville Courier & Press,

P.O. Box 268, Evansville, Ind. 47702. His e-mail address is d.barnett@insightbb.com.

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