Secondary Circuit Ground Fault Protection

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Jeremy Scott by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <supertux1-at-yahoo-dot-com>


Has anyone used an NST that has a secondary circuit
ground fault protection built into it?

New Allanson transformers have apparantly have these
built in, and as far as I can guess they detect
shorts to ground on the secondary side and cut
the power if that happens. (Just like the outlets
in bathrooms and kitchens.)

I was wondering which "ground" these circuit
protectors
are referenced to -- the AC mains ground or the
NST ground reference (secondary center tap)

I don't connect the AC mains ground (ie green/bare
wire) to my NST's but I do install saftey gaps
between the secondary center tap ("NST ground" - zero
voltage reference) and hot secondary connections.
(Part of the Terry RC filter)

I am concerned that arcing here (ie spark gap
fails/cap goes overvoltage) will trip the ground fault
protector
and shut the off the power. That wouldn't be a bad
thing in theory, but I do expect the occasional
safety gap spark during tuning and adjustment.-- is
this GFCI going to be a pain?