GFCI in garage . garage door opener.

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domnic

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Electrical Contractor
HOW high does the ceiling have to be that i do not need gfci for a garage door receptacle. single family dwelling.
 
By local amendment if you were in NJ you could likely eliminate the GFCI protection.
 
210.8
210.8 Ground-Fault Circuit-Interrupter Protection for
Personnel. Ground-fault circuit-interruption for personnel
shall be provided as required in 210.8(A) through (C). The
ground-fault circuit-interrupter shall be installed in a
readily accessible location.
Informational Note: See 215.9 for ground-fault circuitinterrupter
protection for personnel on feeders.
(A) Dwelling Units. All 125-volt, single-phase, 15- and 20-
ampere receptacles installed in the locations specified in
210.8(A)(1) through (8) shall have ground-fault circuitinterrupter
protection for personnel.
(1) Bathrooms
(2) Garages, and also accessory buildings that have a floor
located at or below grade level not intended as habitable
rooms and limited to storage areas, work areas,
and areas of similar use
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domnic said:
what NEC article 2011 please.
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From 2011....

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The code reasoning behind putting the garage door receptacle on gfci, is apparently people were plugging in extension cords into the outlet and running it outside............you know you have to idiot proof everything until they make better idiots!
 
Little Bill said:
No height limit, it has to be on a GFCI period.
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I agree 100% until that one night when your wife comes home on a snowy night and the garage door doesn't open because the GFCI tripped. There's no CMP at NFPA that handles wife complaints. It becomes a matter of how long you want to hear her complain about the garage door not opening :cool:
 
goldstar said:
I agree 100% until that one night when your wife comes home on a snowy night and the garage door doesn't open because the GFCI tripped. There's no CMP at NFPA that handles wife complaints. It becomes a matter of how long you want to hear her complain about the garage door not opening :cool:
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Not only the complaint, but it's actually your fault, even though someone else installed it. ☠
 
There actually is a height limit but it is not an exception to the GFCI requirment. The GFCI receptacle must be readily accessible so for the average person the maximum height is about 7'.
 
infinity said:
There actually is a height limit but it is not an exception to the GFCI requirment. The GFCI receptacle must be readily accessible so for the average person the maximum height is about 7'.
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Doesn't this just mean the gfi protection must be a cb or an accessible gfi outlet upstream of the ceiling outlet?
 
goldstar said:
I agree 100% until that one night when your wife comes home on a snowy night and the garage door doesn't open because the GFCI tripped. There's no CMP at NFPA that handles wife complaints. It becomes a matter of how long you want to hear her complain about the garage door not opening :cool:
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If you’re worried about that, install a GDO with battery backup.

FWIW, I’ve never had the GFCI on my GDO trip. Nuisance or otherwise.
 
Srv52761 said:
Doesn't this just mean the gfi protection must be a cb or an accessible gfi outlet upstream of the ceiling outlet?
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Yes exactly. If you want to install the GFCI protection at the receptacle in the ceiling adjacent to the door opener it would need to low enough that it can be reached from the floor for testing.
 
The exception, if I'm interpreting the Code correctly, is when a 125-volt, 15 or 20-amp receptacle is not used. Either hard-wiring it, (no receptacle at all) or using something different. I suppose a NEMA 14-15R (125/250-volt, 3-pole, 4-wire) would not require a GFCI, even if it were supplied with only a 120-volt circuit.

Upon further reflection:
I don't think I've ever seen a NEMA 14-15R, except on a catalog page.
It's no more work to hard-wire a garage-door opener than to change the cord.
Will a NEMA 6-15P (250-volt, 2-pole, three-wire, without noodle) fit into a NEMA 14-15R?
 
goldstar said:
I agree 100% until that one night when your wife comes home on a snowy night and the garage door doesn't open because the GFCI tripped. There's no CMP at NFPA that handles wife complaints. It becomes a matter of how long you want to hear her complain about the garage door not opening :cool:
Click to expand...
We a wood burning stove at home and I cut and split the wood for it.
Every once in a while I cut and what we (my buddies and I) call a "ten minute log".
That's when you cut the log too long to fit easily into the stove and you have to hear your wife complain and and comment as to why I cut it too long for ten minutes.
I guess you could call that a ten minute receptacle;).
 
retirede said:
If you’re worried about that, install a GDO with battery backup.

FWIW, I’ve never had the GFCI on my GDO trip. Nuisance or otherwise.
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Late 80's or early 90's I remember having a particular GDO receptacle on GFCI (even though not required), new house and was new door opener. It would trip the GFCI. Back then we didn't investigate we just put in additional GFCI's where needed and made the ceiling outlet non GFCI protected, it was allowed then. Don't know if there was actually something wrong with that unit or if they just weren't paying that close attention to leakage on something that wasn't seeing much application on GFCI's at that time.

Not much for electronics in GDO's then - mostly just the wireless remote control components. IIRC it tripped immediately when plugged in, bet there was a neutral to ground connection whether intentional or not.
 
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