Yes, the breaker is in the outlet. Nowadays they are also built into the plugs of hairdryers, curling irons, etc. The breaker pops if there is a fault in the ground (hence the name...?), one major example being when the appliance you're using shorts out through your body which is grounded to the wet floor, tub, sink, or water faucet. I doubt that they give any extra protection to electronic equipment other than insuring the outlet is correctly grounded.
Pete, I'm just guessing here, but if you installed the GFI outlet in series and it popped, it would have shut down the whole circuit.
Don
donhorn@mindspring.com
----------
>From: "Peter
K. Kaiser" <pkaiser@home.com>
>To: <airstream@airstream.net>
>Subject: Re: [a/s] Omaha! (Well, Iowa, actually...)
>Date: Tue, Feb 23, 1999, 3:33 PM
>
>><< Where is your GFI circuit? The reason I ask is that I installed
one in to
>> the outlet into which I plugged my computer. My computer worked
just fine
>> but I had problems at other locations along the came circuit. >>
>>
>>A question from the electrically challenged............ The GFI circuit
is the
>>one that throws the circuit breaker if water shorts it?
>>
>>Hunter, EC
>
> Someone may correct me on this, but I think that in a GFI outlet,
the
> breaker is in the outlet. And if I understand it correctly the breaker
> opens if there is a short at the outlet. One good way to have such
a short
> is with water.
>
> The GFI also does funny things I don't understand to the circuit
after the
> GFI outlet. It caused me to have a power failure in that part of
the
> circuit. It was maddening because I could find no blown fuses. When
I
> finally called in a certified electrician he determined that the
cause of my
> problem was the GFI outlet I had installed.
>
> So you can see even those of us who think they know something about
> electricity are nevertheless electrically challenged. Welcome to
the club.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Pete
> -----------------------------------------------
> Peter K. Kaiser
> Thornhill, Ontario
> http://members.home.com/pkaiser