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With a newer home, probably nothing will happen.. can you guess why?




And for a really new home (with an RCD) all your lights and computers will go off and you'll have to reset your clocks and....

... Residual Current Devices ...


Exactly. Except that over here, all that's likely to happen is that the outside outlet gets switched off by the device while the rest of the house keeps on ticking.

Most homes here have per-circuit devices (or even just per-outlet) that are required by code in certain rooms (eg. bathroom) and on outside (the building) circuits.

The industry and codebooks call them Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters, but yes they are just a form of Residual Current Device and they work exactly as described by David: they detect differences in downstream current flow between the hot and neutral wires, and trip (open the circuit) when there's a significant (micro amperes) difference.

The cool thing is that no earth ground is actually required, so these devices can be used even in really old homes that don't have the third (earth) wire present at all.

Cheers

-ml