Commercial grade GFCI receptacle

J

JoeNorm

Senior Member
Location
WA
I have a customer requesting a high-grade commercial GFCI receptacle for their high-end new construction.

I see Hubble makes a "hospital grade" version:

www.zoro.com

Hubbell Wiring Device-Kellems GFCI Receptacle, 20A, 125VAC, 5-20R, White GFRTW83W | Zoro

Order Hubbell Wiring Device-Kellems GFCI Receptacle, 20A, 125VAC, 5-20R, White, GFRTW83W at Zoro.com. Great prices & free shipping on orders over $50 when you sign in or sign up for an account.
www.zoro.com www.zoro.com

Would this be a good fit? Anyone know the build quality difference?
 
The manufactures don't offer as many choices of grades for GFCI's. The standard GFCI's are already specification grade. The don't offer residential grade versions like with standard receptacles.
 
JoeNorm said:
I have a customer requesting a high-grade commercial GFCI receptacle for their high-end new construction.

I see Hubble makes a "hospital grade" version:

www.zoro.com

Hubbell Wiring Device-Kellems GFCI Receptacle, 20A, 125VAC, 5-20R, White GFRTW83W | Zoro

Order Hubbell Wiring Device-Kellems GFCI Receptacle, 20A, 125VAC, 5-20R, White, GFRTW83W at Zoro.com. Great prices & free shipping on orders over $50 when you sign in or sign up for an account.
www.zoro.com www.zoro.com

Would this be a good fit? Anyone know the build quality difference?
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If he wants to spend money he would go for this one. It is a Heavy duty Hospital grade. GFSG8300GRY I think they are around $80 each.
 
The terms have always been really confusing. Hospital grade is definitely the best:


Then there is extra heavy duty industrial;


Commercial grade;


and residential:


Other manufacturers usually have slightly different terms, although hospital and spec. grade is pretty universal.

I usually consider spec. grade to be somewhere in the top, although I'm not exactly sure where the cutoff is. I usually look for something that says Federal Spec. Grade. I also that's the same as having a FSUL listing (Fed. Spec. WC596).
 
We have a 'high-end' custom home starting soon, the wife is some sort of engineer, she specified manual generator inlet, all copper wire and busbars after the meter, each bedroom gets a 15A circuit for just receptacles, lots of dimmers, all 'decora' style, one or two fancy pendant lights everything else is actually surprisingly standard but it adds up fast.
 
pipe_bender said:
We have a 'high-end' custom home starting soon, the wife is some sort of engineer, she specified manual generator inlet, all copper wire and busbars after the meter, each bedroom gets a 15A circuit for just receptacles, lots of dimmers, all 'decora' style, one or two fancy pendant lights everything else is actually surprisingly standard but it adds up fast.
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I have not used anything but "Decora" wiring devices in residential in over 30 years. A large percentage of my projects get all Lutron devices.

In California all lights are required to be on a dimmers or vacancy sensors. Exterior lights are required to be on astronomical timers.

I don't see an need for CU buss bars in panels. When I was a Siemens shop my supplier normally stocked CU buss. When I became a SquareD shop Homeline is only offered in AL unless the customer wants to upgrade to QO which is copper. Most if not all of the Combination Service Entrance Device equipment we use for services is only offered in AL.

I use CU for branch circuits but AL for feeders. I see no reason to use CU but if the customer wants to pay for me to have my supplier order CU SER I do it. I will not use larger than 6 NM. Everything larger is SER. I have had a few customers question AL SER but once I explain the past problem with AL and its not an issue with newer AL they are fine with it.

I also use a 15 amp circuit for each basic bedroom but it also includes the lights. Master (sorry, primary) bedrooms usually get separate 15 amp circuits for lights and receptacles. Each bathroom gets at least 2-20 amp circuits (vanity receptacles and toilet receptacle).
 
curt swartz said:
I have not used anything but "Decora" wiring devices in residential in over 30 years.).
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Im probably in the minority, but i hate decora and actually i think "cheap" when i see it. I think it's just based on my personal experience, not really having people use it much on custom homes, but seeing them a lot on code minimum houses in the suburbs
 
electrofelon said:
Im probably in the minority, but i hate decora and actually i think "cheap" when i see it. I think it's just based on my personal experience, not really having people use it much on custom homes, but seeing them a lot on code minimum houses in the suburbs
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I'm the opposite. I can't stand regular toggle switches and receptacles. They look very cheap to me.
 
Ok, so I'm an ornery liberal. I get the reason to stop calling them 'master' bedrooms, but if I was _forced_ to not use that term, I'd probably use 'principal bedroom' for the big one and 'slave bedroom' for the others :)

Back to the OP: I'd probably tell the customers that the standard GFCI receptacles sold for residential use are considered 'specification grade' but that they can get better if they are willing to pay through the nose. I'd suggest that they pick 3 'grades' from the Hubbell catalog, and then get them prices from the supply house (with your markup). But what I'd really try to do is upsell on behind the walls things that make future upgrades and repair easier.
 
curt swartz said:
I don't see an need for CU buss bars in panels.
Click to expand...
If it were spend an extra $200 for a copper bus panel or $200 for hospital grade GFCI with the green dot the copper bus makes more sense to me.
electrofelon said:
Im probably in the minority, but i hate decora and actually i think "cheap" when i see it.
Click to expand...
I hardly notice devices in a home unless I cant find one and I am looking. I have seen more failures with the older 80's style decora switches. But when I see a Aluminum bus loadcenter that screams cheap to me when for almost the same price you can get copper.
 
I once did a resi job using all spec grads plugs & switches pre request (I think Sierra). To this day those damn plugs have never eased up and it's a serious struggle for the home owners to both plug in and unplug cords. Whatever you get, test one out first with the client.
 
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