Ne Nebraska | HuskerJ - 2/23/2021 07:25
I will not plug in a tractor heater, without going through a GFCI of some sort. In fact, don't plug the tractor into a 'hot' cord, ever. Plug the cord to the tractor, then plug the cord into the outlet. Unplug in the same order. Yes, it takes a few more steps, but I need the exercise anyway.
We put in a garden shed this summer, and ran power to it. I installed a breaker box, and was surprised at how reasonable the prices for arc-fault breakers have gotten. Since the kids will be doing projects in there, all breakers are arc-fault, all outlets are ground-fault.
My plan for this year, is to upgrade my machine shed, to a breaker box, with arc-fault breakers, and upgrade outlets to ground fault.
For those not familiar with arc-fault, they have some kind of sensor that detects a 'spark', and cuts power when it senses one. For things like a block heater, I may need to install a switch (or timer) instead of plugging and un-plugging it, because the 'spark' when you plug it in, has the potential to trip it, but IMO, that is a small price to pay, to prevent a fire (arc-fault detects a 'spark' and cuts power before it sparks enough to start a fire).
The ground fault, is for safety purposes. With ground fault outlets, if the wires to the engine heater are bad, it'll trip, before you feel anything more than a little 'tingle'.
If you do it right, any outlets in a series can be protected with a ground fault outlet as the first one in line. Will save you from swapping them all out. It is kind of confusing when one trips tho and it’s not the plug your using. Just have to remember which one is the first in that series of plugs. |
Be careful we lost 2 young men in our area last week.
