Oops!  I have violated one of the cardinal rules of e-mailing:
sending before reading over at least 10 times.  So, of course, I now
notice that I could have made things more clear in my last offering.
Sorry.  More Clear [Duplex GFI vs. Breaker GFI]:

John Tuttle wrote, "I never figured GFCI was needed in the basement,
but I'll most likely install GFCI right at the fuse box just in case
of future problems."

Uh-oh, read on.  This might save you some grief, and an extra trip
to the electrical supply store.

It is standard practice for most "two wire" branch circuits to start
out from the main switch box as 1/2 of a three wire, two circuit
system, consisting of two "hot" wires (e.g., red and black) with a
potential of 220 volts between them, sharing a common white wire
("grounded conductor").

In this situation you cannot utilize a GFI circuit breaker to protect
either branch circuit.  This is because a GFI monitors its circuit to
see if the same current is flowing in its "hot" wire as in its white
wire.  If there is any differential, it trips off.

Since the white wire is shared by two circuits, the only way you could
not have constantly tripped breakers, due to an imbalance between
either "hot" and the common white wire, is if you were only drawing
current from one branch circuit at a time.  Obviously, this would not
be practical.  :o)

At the point where these two circuits do actually "branch off", then
each will have its own separate white wire.  After that branching,
a GFI duplex plug receptacle can be installed in either or both branch
circuits as needed.  The GFI may be wired to protect all other outlets
on down its branch line.

In case you were thinking there might be a savings by using a GFI
breaker, the GFI duplex plug receptacles are about 1/4 the cost of a
GFI breaker.

For a two wire circuit starting from the switch box, where the white
wire is not shared by another circuit, only then can you use a GFI
breaker.

Tom Lear
San Francisco, CA