3-wire and GFI question

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davidbananas999

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Minnesota
Ok so the answer to this question is probably obvious.....but I have to ask:

Today at work I wired a garage which requires all receptacles to be GFI'd. The homeowner wanted two switched receptacles on the ceiling so he could plug in a couple LED lights. What I did was run 3-wire out of the switch box to send constant power to a GFCI located below it, black on the line and red on the load, pig-tailed the neutral to two wires, 1 on line and 1 on load, then connected the red wire (in the switch box) to the switch and the neutral to the LED receptacle neutral. My Journeyman was like pft naw bro you cant do that it wont hold. And he's probably right, but we didnt have power to test it out so i just replaced the 3-wire with 2 pieces of 2. I would love to give him proof tomorrow haha.

What do you guys think?
 
The GFCI needs to see virtually all the current return through the receptacle.

By pigtailing the neutral line and load together, you put a conductor in parallel with the GFCI sensing circuit which will allow some current to bypass the GFCI, causing it to trip.

I agree with the J-man you need four conductors to make this work.
 
davidbananas999 said:
Ok so the answer to this question is probably obvious.....but I have to ask:

Today at work I wired a garage which requires all receptacles to be GFI'd. The homeowner wanted two switched receptacles on the ceiling so he could plug in a couple LED lights. What I did was run 3-wire out of the switch box to send constant power to a GFCI located below it, black on the line and red on the load, pig-tailed the neutral to two wires, 1 on line and 1 on load, then connected the red wire (in the switch box) to the switch and the neutral to the LED receptacle neutral. My Journeyman was like pft naw bro you cant do that it wont hold. And he's probably right, but we didnt have power to test it out so i just replaced the 3-wire with 2 pieces of 2. I would love to give him proof tomorrow haha.

What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

Please send a diagram.
I believe he is right.
 
Would be simplest to just feed it from load side of one of your other GFCI receptacles, those LED lights that will be used aren't going to draw enough to worry about loading the circuit too much.

I am assuming there is other general lighting outlets as well.
 
You could use 12 or 14/3 to make switched receps, even GFCI, but the neutrals have to be pigtailed line side only. It would be much easier just to run 2 12 or 14/2, and do two separate legs, like you did, one for permanent powered receps and one for switched. Even if all you had was 12 or 14/3, keep em separate. Callbacks kill profit.
 
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