hi all,,,was just wondering,,,,does the molded ring on the back of the gfci unit have any purpose other than tidying up wires?? kind of a goofy question but am curious,,,,,,,,,,,and would a thunderstorm induced black out kill a gfci,,will not reset,,,thanks ,,,,vdubs

The molded ring is a 'toroid' core ring. The wires pass through it so that any current imbalance will generate a magnetic field - which the gfci's internal circuitry picks up and trips it.

Yes, it will go bad from lightning, heck those things will go bad if you look at them crooked.

They'll go bad if you test them.
They'll go bad just sitting there.

Worst problem is though, they usually fail in the ON condition, meaning no protection for you when they fail.

wow,,a toroid,, sounds painful,,,and I thought it was just a wire holder,,lol,, is the leviton unit more prone to tripping or failure than the aftermarket one ? or does it not really make any difference,,and thanks for the information,,I turned two people on to this site today,,the staff and posters here get a round of applause from me,,keep up the good work all

vdubs

A toroid transformer, is simply a transformer with a circular (carbon) core. Very efficient and effective at transferring magnetic fields generated from the windings.

Afaic, there is no 'aftermarket' unit - What I prefer to do is to install a completely separate GFCI like this one:
http://spapartsnet.com/Electrical-Parts ... 2_0_1.html

Considering the alternative, they're cheaper, better, and will provide better protection than any of the smaller built in jobs.

ok,,,,,old,,bad breaker,,(with toroid ring) removed,,was a 20 amp gfci,,,new gfci ordered,,,,recieved ,,is twenty amp also,,but no toroid ring thingy...do I really need the ringy thingy??? thanks vdubs,,