Quote:
Originally posted by bdare
My understanding is that the GFCI is only there for sudden changes in current. The grounding probe serves a completely different purpose which is pulling stray current from the water.
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GFI will trip if the current coming in on the neutral end does not match what's going out on the hot end.
This will usually happen if something is leaking current into your tank, but not *always.*
For example, if you had an exposed hot wire in your tank and also an exposed neutral, and the current were traveling from one to the other, the GFI would not detect a ground fault, because the amount going out would equal the amount going in. Nevertheless, if you stuck your hand in, you'd give that stray current a new path to ground.
This is where a grounding probe comes in. It can act as your hand and trips GFI before you do.