GFIC questions and problems

For a home built in 1983, does an inside laundry room outlet require GFIC outlets (above the counter and close to the tub)? The laundry room is between the garage and the living quarters.

My main panel has two GFIC breakers, but I noticed that half of the garage outlets and most of the exterior outlets are *not* GIFC protected. So much for home inspections. -- I guess I will have to replace the missing GFIC outlets, all ten of them.

Thanks for any input

Reply to
Walter R.
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Your 1983 house does not have to meet current code, unless you do improvements on the areas in question. It would be good to have GFCI in those areas, but code does not require it.

You are aware that if the first outlet on a circuit is GFCI, then all the rest are as well, aren't you?

Reply to
toller

I hope he's *not* aware of that, because it's a false statement. Or, at least, it's not necessarily true.

GFCI receptacles *can* be wired to protect the remainder of the circuit, but they don't *have* to be. Unless you pull it out to check the connections, or verify the other receptacles with a tester, you have no way of knowing whether this is true or not.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Reply to
Doug Miller

I'm not sure if this was required by Code in 1983 or not, but it's a good idea regardless.

First of all, how did you determine that these outlets are not GFCI protected? Even if the receptacles are not, themselves, GFCIs, they may be protected by one of the two GFCI breakers, or by another GFCI receptacle somewhere. If you don't already have a plug-in tester to test GFCI-protected outlets, this would be a good time to get one.

Second, there's no reason to replace all ten receptacles with GFCIs. You need only one GFCI per circuit, if you wire it right - which is described, in detail, in the manufacturer's instructions that accompany the device.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Reply to
Doug Miller

According to this site, in my 1983 home, the garage outlets and exterior outlets were required to be on GFCI circuits. Looks to me like a sloppy electrician who put some of the outlets on the required GFCI breakers and ignored the rest.

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Is the info at this URL incorrect?

Reply to
Walter R.

Hi Doug

I used one of those GFIC testers (with the test button).

Reply to
Walter R.

OK, so you have actually confirmed that they're not protected, rather than just assuming. That's not real good, but at least you know what you're dealing with.

You did catch my last point, didn't you, about needing only one per *circuit* (if you wire them right)?

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Reply to
Doug Miller

Yes, that's my next project: Finding out precisely what circuits these non-GFIC outlets are on.

Thanks

Reply to
Walter R.

Pesumably Mr. Holt is accurate, but it doesn't much matter. I wasn't doing electrical back then, so I don't know what code required, but my house is also 1983 and only had GFCIs in the bathrooms. I would be willing to bet it met code.

The local electrical code typically refers to a specific version of the NEC, with some adjustments. The version specified is often not the latest. So, the fact that the 1981 NEC called for GFCIs in the garage doesn't mean your local code did. The local code could have referred to an old NEC, or it could have specifically exempted garages; or the building inspector could have made it know that he didn't care about garages.

Besides, what does it matter 22 years later? For $9 you can be a sport.

Reply to
toller

Sounds like a very sensible approach. You are saying then, for $ 9 I can buy a GFIC outlet and forget about this problem?

Kind regards

Reply to
Walter R.

My understanding of the NEC 2002(since 05 isn't in force yet in Pa).

If the outlets are normallly used by installed, not easily movible, equipment(laundry machine and dryer), then no receptacle is normally availible forother appliances, then NO.

Now if it's an outlet not in placed for installed equipment: If it's an unfinished room not normally habited(like a storage or work area), or considered part of the garage, Yes.

If it's a finished laundry room in the main house, no.

------ side note ----- As for the 2005, I've been told receptacles serving the utility sink, yes.

Now I'm not NEC expert, so you need to verify this yourself with your local authorities. They have precidence, and can enforce stricter codes. Personally any receptacles that can be used for portable items(vacum, fan, etc) that exist around grounded items, exposing people to electricution risk, then I would protect for that. $11 bucks is cheap compared to loss of life.

hth, imho,

tom

Reply to
The Real Tom

Well, $9/circuit. The only trick is finding the first outlet to install the GFCI on, but that just takes a little patience. There was a thread on that about a week ago.

Reply to
toller

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