Where to put GFCI?

[immortl]

My current electrical flow/connection is as described below x2 (one UPS/power strip for just circ pump, another UPS/power strip for all the other stuff)

Regular wall outlet > 1500VA UPS > Power Strip > Device (pump, heater, lights, timer, etc...)


With that set up, would I be best served replacing the wall outlet with a GFCI outlet? Or putting an inline GFCI between the UPS and Power Strip? I'm thinking between the UPS and power strip to protect the UPSs, but have no real technical knowledge regarding why I think that would be better.

Thanks,
Joe

 

[alton]

Power Strip GFCI Heater - Power Strip GFCI Pump - Power Strip GFCI Lights. It is always better to run more than one GFCI on your tank. You do not want a faulty heater to trip your GFCI and stop your pump. FYI they make GFCI's now with audible alarm so you know quickly when one trips and marked WR.

 

[Joel B.]

Putting GFCI on the outlet before the UPS is largely pointless when using battery backups. GFCI on the outlet trips and kills power at the outlet, battery backup switches to battery power and continues to power whatever the problem is until the battery drains.

They make in-line GFCI designed for outdoor power tool use, which is what I use, placed behind the battery backup. So Outlet > Battery > In-line GFCI > Power strip.

Keep an eye on what you buy, they make two kinds of in-line GFCI, either they auto-reset or they require manual reset.

Edit for clarity: If the GFCI is tripped by ground fault, they always need to be manually reset. Auto-resetting in-line GFCI do not require you reset them after a loss of power like from a power outage, but manual reset GFCI will FAIL-SAFE to an unpowered state until you reset them when they lose power. I use auto-reset on my tank as I'd rather it kick back online after a power outage.