GFCI Breaker Question

[Amy L]

There was a lamp post in my front yard that the previous owners removed and buried the cable. I am going to put the lamp post back in. When I traced the electrical for the circuit that was previously used I found that the cable is on the same circuit that also services the door light and several outlets in my family room. The breaker in the panel for this circuit is non-gfci. I intend to replace the existing breaker with a GFCI breaker.

1.) Is there any issue with having a GFCI breaker and the other outlets including the lamp post on the same circuit? 2.) Also, if GFCI is so much safer than traditional breakers than how come they are only used in specific places (Kitchen, Bathroom, Outside). Why not use them everywhere? I assume the answer is probably cost, but when building a home is it really that much of a cost difference when looking at the larger total?

Amy

[RBM]

There is no problem in having the other outlets on a GFCI protector. They are required in locations where a ground fault is more likely to be fatal, which is essentially in damp and wet locations. Minor ground faults that would cause the device to trip can be a nuisance, so they're generally only used where required

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, I wouldn't let ouside circuit share GFCI with other lights/outlets inside. Most likely fault may occur from outside which will cause power loss inside. This is inconvenient. My ouside circuits are through two GFCI, front and back of the house. Bathrooms are also grouped into two, upstairs, downstairs. This is done through sub-panels.

[hallerb]

you break the wire bettween the switch and where it goes out in the yard, install box and gfci which can also be used as outlet.since your replacing the underground wire this will be easy.

DONT concrete post in place just backfill dirt and tamp well. This way if you ever need to relocate post or someone puses it over or leans on it you can easily straighten it

[Salmon Egg]

To illustrate, I have a submersible pump that apparently has leakage to ground. It has a typical three prong plug for hot, neutral and ground. I use it for hydroponics where the nutrient solutions that splash around are mostly salt water (not sodium chloride). I want good protection.

I have found that the leakage causes the GFCI to trip especially when the pump is turned off. The inductive kick is what does it. The leakage is low enough so that if I have a good protective ground connection, I do not worry. Nevertheless, I avoid using that pump whenever possible.

Bill

-- Ferme le Bush

[Jay Stootzmann]

Have you considered running the outdoor lamp post from a seperate breaker on you pannel? That would be the way I would prefer to go.

In addition to Kitchen, Bathrooms, and Outside outlets it would probably be a good idea to have garage and basement circuits on GFCI's. After I bought my house the builder only had installed GFCI's on the bathrooms and the garage so I added it to all the kitchen, laundry room, dinnet room off the kitchen, outside outlets, and basement circuits. I also had to rewire one bathroom because it's GFCI was improperly wired.