Switch controlling Bathroom Light, Fan, and Outlet

[aeglauer]

Hello,

I have a switch in the bathroom that controls the light, the bathroom fan, and the "razor only" outlet. I replaced the "razor only" outlet with a GFCI outlet and all works as it did before. I would like the outlet to remain powered even when the light and fan are off. I have read in the newsgroup about the wiring in the switch (which I haven't looked at). Does the wiring in the outlet box matter?

With the "razor only" outlet, the three cables (each with a white and black/hot wire) were all twisted together (all three white wires and all three black wires) to the wires leading to the outlet. I determined which of these cables was the line/source and relegated the other two as "load" cables. I wired the GFCI outlet appropriately. I'm wondering if the wiring in the outlet box needs to be considered when changing the wiring in the light switch box. Again, I haven't looked in the light switch box, but there is only one switch that is either on or off.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations or suggestions!

[armand]

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[RayV]

You need to find out what the 'load' wires from the recepticle are powering. Turn on the switch to power the recepticle (and lights), then press the test button on the outlet and see what no longer has power.

If the lights go out when you test the GFCI then the power is going from the switch to the outlet box then on to the lights. If that is the case, would have to re-run the wires to the light and fan. May be fairly easy if you have access above or below.

[kevin]

Seems likely the two load lines from the GFCI go to the light and the fan, just going by numbers. In that case you might have to run a new wire or two. Here are some options if that is indeed the setup (source to switch to GFCI to fan+light) -- which one is best depends on how easy it is to add a new line to each place:

1- Can you just swap that GFCI and the switch? In my bathroom, the two happen to be right next to each other (well, one right above the other). This would give you source to GFCI to switch to fan+light, which is what you want.

2 - Run new lines (or just one new line) from the switch to the fan and light. Then obviously disconnect the load lines on the GFCI.

3 - Run a new line from the source to the GFCI, and just connect the three other wires in a pass-through configuration in the GFCI box. You probably don't have room in the GFCI box for this though, unless you can get rid of those other connections that would be in there. Maybe you can get an extra deep box? Seems annoying.

4 - Use the old 2-wire switch-to-GFCI cable to pull through a new

3-wire switch-to-GFCI cable. Then you can run the white as the neutral, black as always hot, and red as switched hot. At the GFCI, the outlet LINE screws get the black and white from the switch. The red from switch connects to the black from fan+light. The white from switch connects also to the fan+light. Nothing connects to the LOAD screws. Unless there are other outlets in the bathroom that are fed from there already, in which case you could put those on the load screws.

-Kevin