Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters. You can get these at your local hard where store for $15.00 to $30.00(depending on what you get and where you get it). You can get a whole circuit protected or you can just replace your outlet with a GFCI outlet.
When you look at a normal 120-volt outlet in the United States, there are two vertical slots and then a round hole centered below them. The left slot is slightly larger than the right. The left slot is called "neutral," the right slot is called "hot" and the hole below them is called "ground." If an appliance is working properly, all electricity that the appliance uses will flow from hot to neutral.
Now how GFCI works is it monitors the amount of current flowing from hot to neutral. If there is any imbalance, it trips the circuit. It is able to sense a mismatch as small as 4 or 5 milliamps, and it can react as quickly as one-thirtieth of a second.
So let's say you are outside with your power drill and it is raining. You are standing on the ground, and since the drill is wet there is a path from the hot wire inside the drill through you to ground. If electricity flows from hot to ground through you, it could be fatal. The GFCI can sense the current flowing through you because not all of the current is flowing from hot to neutral as it expects -- some of it is flowing through you to ground. As soon as the GFCI senses that, it trips the circuit and cuts off the electricity. Same as it would if any electricity is flowing though the water in your tank.
P.S. All this info above was taking from How stuff works.com (
http://home.howstuffworks.com/question117.htm )
Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 12:48 am WHERE DO I GET GFI OR GFCI?
