What is the typical winding/shell leakage nowadays for a 1/2 hp motor? How much of the 4 mA GFCI budget does it use up?
None. With today’s technology little to no current is lost through capacitive induction in the motor frame. The use of ceramic dipped windings was discontinued way back in the 60s and somewhere in the mid to late 80s it was mandated that the leakage of motors to be addressed to very low levels. I am not sure of the numbers but can find out if it would make you happy.
Yes. I can't find data on this anywhere, to check if it actually made a difference.
You are not looking in the right places or simply disregarding the information you are finding. The numbers are simple to find if you truly want to find them. Start with looking at the numbers that Fire Marshals have. These can be found at both state and federal levels.
You have numbers? Exposure to risk is certainly a factor.
In the first couple of months after the bid was released to Westinghouse for the world’s fair there was 600 deaths in the state of New York alone, but less than 10 across the nation due to automobiles for the entire year. (reference source National Fire Protection Association)
Nowadays the danger from elec. is down in the noise, probably for many reasons.
1300/yr electrocuted vs. 40,000 highway deaths/yr vs. 1000/day smoking related fatalities.
I'd look at what add'tl increment in safety you get for each dollar spent. If you say a CB gives you $20 worth of safety then an AFCI maybe gives you $1 more worth of safety. It's the law of diminishing returns.
Do these quasi-governmental agencies mentioned above fit this description?
"Regulatory capture is a term used to refer to situations in which a government regulatory agency created to act in the public interest instead acts in favor of the commercial or special interests that dominate in the industry or sector it is charged with regulating."
"Public choice theory holds that capture is inevitable, because vested interests have a concentrated financial stake in the outcomes of political decisions, thus ensuring that they will find means—direct or indirect—to capture decision makers"
Spoken like a true, protect me from the thieves, murders, and rapist but don’t dare try to tell me what to do, type of cult.
To disprove another’s thought we can use abstract comparisons to show just how low the numbers truly are. I think that you comparison is sort of like comparing the number of stars to the number of candles in a Catholic church on any given day. We must admit that the candles will light the church at night better than the stars so which is more dangerous? Can one blow out a star as easily as one can blow out a candle?
To bring this outrageous comparison a little closer tell me just how many people are in a moving car and for how long each day. How many people light a cigarette and how many times a day? How many are coming in contact with a live electrical circuit each day? How many electrical fires are there each day?
Now if we had as many people working with live circuits or on unprotected circuits each and every day as we have in automobiles and lighting a smoke I can guarantee that the numbers would look a lot different wouldn’t you think?
Thank God that there is a power higher than our self to mandate some sort of safety. Can you imagine the chaos we would have on our streets if there were no highway patrol to enforce the laws or even worse if there were no traffic law set in place at all?