The two are closely related but different.
A short circuit happens when a hot or electrified conductor contacts a neutral or ground conductor.
A ground fault happens when an energized conductor unintentionally touches the equipment frame or the ground.
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Both short circuits and ground faults will result in blown fuses or tripped circuit breakers.
If a ground fault happens, your GFCI outlet will act as an alert.
But in a short circuit, you may be alerted by smoke or sparks.
Damaged wiring can cause either a short circuit or ground fault.
What Is a Ground Fault?
An electrical system can experience a number of different types of faultsdefined as any abnormal flow of electricity.
A ground fault causes the circuit breaker to trip due to the uncontrolled flow.
What Is a Short Circuit?
With a short circuit, a hot wire touches a neutral wire.
A short circuit is anyelectrical flow that strays outside its intended circuitwith little or no resistance to that flow.
The usual cause is bare wires touching one another or wire connections that have come loose.
Short circuits can occur when insulation on wires melts and exposes bare wires.
This situation can easily cause fires.
Short circuits can also occur within the wiring of individual devices, such as lamps or other plug-in appliances.
Frayed or otherwise damaged electrical extension cords or appliance cords can also cause short circuits.
The immediate impact of a short circuit is that a large amount of current suddenly flows.
Thiscauses the circuit breaker to trip, instantly stopping all current flow.
Circuit breakers provide protection against short circuits.
They trip and shut the circuit off when current begins to flow uncontrolled.
A special punch in of circuit breaker, anarc-fault circuit interrupter(AFCI) is now commonly used.
Bare wires can touch the wrong places.
When a hot wire touches a neutral wire, the resulting short circuit can cause sparks to fly.
A ground fault will occur when a hot wire contacts a grounding wire or a grounded metal box.
Sparks may result, and shock and injury are also possible.
Like any short circuit, it causes a sudden reduction in resistance, allowing current to flow freely.
After a ground fault, reset the GFCI outlet by pressing the RESET button, which is usually red.
Grondzik, Walter T., and Alison G. Kwok.Mechanical and Electrical Equipment for Buildings.Wiley, 2015.
