I just moved into a new house. I noticed in my powder room that there is an outlet on the wall directly beside the sink. It does not appear to be a GFI plug as it has no reset test buttons on it. Does an outlet that close not have to be a GFI plug ?
The electrical code will tell you. Some house installations do and others may not comply with the current code. Your municipal building permits office can tell you:
1) What the current code requires for bathroom outlets 2) Whether the code is retroactively enforced or not.
Hi, Plug is male part, LOL. Anyhow a GFCI outlet can take care of several regular outlet down stream. Even if it is regular outlet, it may be covered by another GFCI one upstream.
or even in the panel. both my bathroom outlets are covered at the panel, and have standard outlets in the bathroom
Dave
It *should* be a GFCI by current code, but if it is older construction it may not have been required at the time of installation. If that bothers you, it's an easy retrofit.
Also, you may have a GFCI breaker in the panel rather than a GFCI outlet.
good luck
nate
You can purchase an outlet tester with a GFI detection function on it pretty cheaply and use it to test that outlet to see if it is GFI protected and also that it is wired correctly.
Jeff
Speaking of those testers, what happens if you press the GFI test button when the tester is plugged into a non-GFI outlet? From what I can tell with my multimeter, the connection it makes to ground for the test is through a high enough resistance that it should not draw much current, so I expect it is safe, but with electrical things, it's always best to ask first!
When I had the same question, I answered it by trying it. It does nothing.
You are correct, the current drawn by the tester is only about 10 milliamps or so.
I've "tested" for GFCI presence simply by sticking the leads of a 10K ohm 2 watt carbon resistor into the hot and ground holes on a receptical.
That's not an official recommendation guys, use at your own risk.
Jeff
You can also do this if you don't have a tester:
1) Unzip your fly 2) Pull out your junk 3) Go wee wee into the outlet 4) If it is FDIC protected, then it will trip.
But only the first $100,000 per account.
Of course you do need a good ground.
Hold onto the sink faucet while you do that (you do need a ground).
Note that the FDIC protects outlets only if you keep your money in there :-)
This is the second initial post I've read today where sxomeone calls a socket a plug. A plug has prongs or some male feature.
People generally imitate each other without really thinking.
I've known that a plug is a MALE connector for a long time. I've heard a lot of people say "plug" for the female things for just as long.
Some people do get their sex mixed up :-)
Wow. I wonder if they can manage to have children. My grandmother had a 6 foot electric cord with plugs on both ends. I don't know why. But she had three children so at least she knew that part.
Last November, I knew of a neighbor who made a male-male adapter (short cord with plugs on both ends) for use with holiday lights.
BTW, at least one of his kids does play on the roof sometimes.
Any time you use a Wigginton type solenoid tester on an electrical circuit you are drawing around ten milliamperes of current. Those are required equipment for electricians working for unionized shops nation wide. The test button on the GFCI tester draws very nearly the same current. Either one will trip a GFCI. Applying ten milliamperes of current to the Equipment Grounding Conductor will do no harm.
-- Tom Horne
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