Chances are, you don’t even think about them much—you just plug and play. But so much is going on inside your outlets to ensure that your home’s electrical systems are working safely and effectively.

Amid the many different outlet types, GFCI outlets are a critical innovation that help keep you and your loved ones safe—and if you don’t have them installed, you could be at risk of serious injury or even death.

So what’s the fuss with these GFCI outlets, and why do they matter for your home?

A Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) is designed to protect people from electrical shock, similar to a fuse or circuit breaker. They shut off electrical power to help you avoid electrocution, electrical shock, and burns.

Fuses and circuit breakers are designed to protect a house against an electrical fire. Without a fuse, a fire could start if the neutral wire of an electrical system came into contact with the hot wire. The fuse or circuit breaker is designed to heat up faster than the wire and will interrupt the electrical flow through the wire to prevent the fire.

A GFCI outlet is much more subtle than a traditional fuse. On every 120-volt outlet in the United States, you’ll see two vertical slots and a round hole centered below them: 

If an appliance is working properly, all electricity that the appliance uses will flow from hot to neutral. 

A GFCI monitors the amount of current flowing from hot to neutral. If it senses any imbalances in the current flow, 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.

Imagine you’re running a hair dryer in the bathroom. You are standing on the ground, and since the hair dryer is wet, there is a path from the hot wire inside the dryer 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.

Pretty smart device, right? While most modern building codes require GFCI outlets in bathrooms and kitchens, many older houses haven’t been updated, creating an unnecessary risk for you and your family.

You can tell if an outlet is a GFCI outlet by looking at it—every one will have “Test” and “Reset” buttons on them that allow you to make sure they’re working. Regularly test your GFCI by pressing the “Test” button to trip the power, then pressing “Reset” to restore power. If your outlet doesn’t reset, you may need to replace or rewire your GFCI outlet.

When it comes to installing a GFCI outlet, it’s best to leave the heavy lifting to the professionals. WIREONE performs a free residential safety inspection on every residential dispatch. During this inspection, we’ll test your GFCI outlets to ensure that they are operating properly. If you don’t have any, we’ll advise you on where they should be installed as outlined by the current building code.