Grounding receptacles connected to GFCI

[erickench]

I did an inspection today on the same house that I inspected some months ago. This is what I found. In the kitchen there was a counter running along the wall that did not have a sink. The island counter did however. The receptacles on the wall counter consisted of grounding receptacles all tied in to one GFCI receptacle. I was told that this one GFCI would protect the others. Is this legal? I also used two different receptacle testers to test the wiring. I used a grounding receptacle tester and a GFCI receptacle tester and the results were incorrect wiring. Does anyone care to comment on this? Does the fact that the grounding receptacles are tied into the lone GFCI affect the tests?

 

[raider1]

Is this an ungrounded system with grounding type receptacles installed in compliance with 406.4(D)(2)(c)?

If so you can use a single GFCI receptacle to protect the receptacles downstream provided that the downstream receptacles are marked "GFCI protected" and "No equipment ground".

Receptacles installed under this provision will show up as no equipment ground on your simple receptacle tester and if you try to trip the GFCI using the test button on the tester it will not trip due to the lack of an equipment grounding conductor.

Chris

 

[erickench]

Is this an ungrounded system with grounding type receptacles installed in compliance with 406.4(D)(2)(c)?

If so you can use a single GFCI receptacle to protect the receptacles downstream provided that the downstream receptacles are marked "GFCI protected" and "No equipment ground".

Receptacles installed under this provision will show up as no equipment ground on your simple receptacle tester and if you try to trip the GFCI using the test button on the tester it will not trip due to the lack of an equipment grounding conductor.

Chris

Yes but the counter itself does not have a sink. Is it still a requirement that the receptacles have to be GFCI protected?

 

[erickench]

Is it a possible for a small appliance circuit to be without an equipment ground while the rest of the house wiring is grounded? The receptacles were of the grounding type and yet there is no equipment ground.

 

[jimport]

Receptacles serving the countertop in kitchens are required to be GFI protected, regardless of a sink or water source. This is one of the few times the NEC is retroactive.

 

[GoldDigger]

Is it a possible for a small appliance circuit to be without an equipment ground while the rest of the house wiring is grounded? The receptacles were of the grounding type and yet there is no equipment ground.

If the original circuit to the kitchen outlets was only two wire, that does not have to be updated to provide a ground. But to replace the existing two terminal receptacles with three terminal receptacles or to provide GFCI to those receptacle outlets requires the presence of a GFCI breaker or a GFCI receptacle that feeds the rest of the receptacles from its load side.
Probably all that is missing is the proper labeling at all of the receptacles. Raider1 has explained why the GFCI tester will not work, even thought the test button in the GFCI does.
If your tester showed any other problems except missing ground, then you need to check that out.

 

[erickench]

Okay. Thanks for all your help.