GFCI ON GFCI

junkhound

junkhound

Senior Member
Location
Renton, WA
Occupation
EE, power electronics specialty
LarryFine said:
I once found three in-line on one circuit doing a trouble-shoot: living room, hallway, and bedroom.
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lol:
friend's house was having a problem with their outdoor fountain going offline.

In troubleshooting, found 5 (FIVE) GFCI in series. Apparently, the previous owner had upgraded the kitchen with GFCI, all 5 in series, 4 at 3 different kitchen counters plus one under the deck to feed the fountain pump.
Also, that person attached 2 wires under the same screw head even though the outlets were spec grade backwire clamp type.
 
Jraef

Jraef

Moderator, OTD
Staff member
Location
San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
Occupation
Electrical Engineer
A friend is buying a house built in 1951 and the HI states that “all of the outlets showed open ground and all of the GFCIs failed to trip”. He asked me to take a look and they had used GFCIs to address the lack of grounding on receptacles. I pushed the test buttons, they tripped fine. He told me that the HI had plugged in some sort of tester and declared them all non-functional. Idiot…
 
hornetd

hornetd

Senior Member
Location
Maryland
Occupation
Journeyman Electrician, Retired
Jraef said:
A friend is buying a house built in 1951 and the HI states that “all of the outlets showed open ground and all of the GFCIs failed to trip”. He asked me to take a look and they had used GFCIs to address the lack of grounding on receptacles. I pushed the test buttons, they tripped fine. He told me that the HI had plugged in some sort of tester and declared them all non-functional. Idiot…
Click to expand...
Why is there no consequence for Home Inspector incompetence. Is there anywhere in the country were they are licensed. Is there anywhere that there is any consequence for this sort of drivel. As far as I'm concerned they should not be allowed to even open a panel cover because so very many of them do not know what they are looking at.

Tom Horne
 
infinity

infinity

Moderator
Staff member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Journeyman Electrician
Jraef said:
A friend is buying a house built in 1951 and the HI states that “all of the outlets showed open ground and all of the GFCIs failed to trip”. He asked me to take a look and they had used GFCIs to address the lack of grounding on receptacles. I pushed the test buttons, they tripped fine. He told me that the HI had plugged in some sort of tester and declared them all non-functional. Idiot…
Click to expand...
This is a common error that HI's make all of the time. The only recognized testing procedure is depressing the test button. If all of their fancy testers fail to trip the GFCI they should try that. That's the problem with fancy testers. Some HI's are even using them to test for voltage drop and then calling out excessive VD as a defect.
 
R

rc/retired

Senior Member
Location
Bellvue, Colorado
Occupation
Master Electrician/Inspector retired
hornetd said:
Why is there no consequence for Home Inspector incompetence. Is there anywhere in the country were they are licensed. Is there anywhere that there is any consequence for this sort of drivel. As far as I'm concerned they should not be allowed to even open a panel cover because so very many of them do not know what they are looking at.

Tom Horne
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Well sir, this I can tell you. My mentor, questioned the state of Colorado all your questions. Years ago.
The state replied, "No one has been injured or killed as the result of their inspections.
I don't know what else to say

Ron
 
LarryFine

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
There is a way to use a plug-in tester on non-grounded circuits: Plug the tester into a ground "cheater" with the green wire or tab connected to a wire extended and clipped to a known ground.
 
ptonsparky

ptonsparky

Tom
Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
hornetd said:
Why is there no consequence for Home Inspector incompetence. Is there anywhere in the country were they are licensed. Is there anywhere that there is any consequence for this sort of drivel. As far as I'm concerned they should not be allowed to even open a panel cover because so very many of them do not know what they are looking at.

Tom Horne
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I've followed some that were worth their money. Pictures, locations and notes.
Others, weren't worth the phone call. They called no GFCI in homes that predated them but missed stuff that was never correct.
 
hornetd

hornetd

Senior Member
Location
Maryland
Occupation
Journeyman Electrician, Retired
ptonsparky said:
I've followed some that were worth their money. Pictures, locations and notes.
Others, weren't worth the phone call. They called no GFCI in homes that predated them but missed stuff that was never correct.
Click to expand...
And we only know well the electrical stuff they miss and mistakenly call dangerous.
 
H

hillbilly1

Senior Member
Location
North Georgia mountains
Occupation
Owner/electrical contractor
I went behind another electrician that had wired a new house, the master bath lost power, and they couldn’t figure out why. Luckily the basement had a suspended ceiling, and I traced it down a wall. Looked under a workbench, and there was a tripped gfi!
One of my boss’s who was an EE, couldn’t figure out why he didn’t have power in one of the bathrooms. He said replaced the gfi. I asked him if he checked the bathroom at the other end of the house. Went in there, pushed the reset button, now he had power. I told him residential electricians are bad at looping as many outlets as they can to one gfi.
 
B

boblhead

Member
Location
New Hampshire
Occupation
Electrician
boblhead said:
Any issues with having GFCI receptacles on AFCI/GFCI breakers? Customer wants to make wiring as safe as possible in old family seasonal cottage. Much of the existing wiring has no ground
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Not looking to cascade gfi's I just don't know how things here are wired in this old generational home, i will do as much ringing out of the circuits as the budget allows...
 
Fred B

Fred B

Senior Member
Location
Upstate, NY
Occupation
Electrician
hornetd said:
Why is there no consequence for Home Inspector incompetence. Is there anywhere in the country were they are licensed. Is there anywhere that there is any consequence for this sort of drivel. As far as I'm concerned they should not be allowed to even open a panel cover because so very many of them do not know what they are looking at.

Tom Horne
Click to expand...
In NY they are licensed but there is no muscle behind their incompetence or recourse for HO for a bad inspection. Interesting is that they have to be licensed but not electricians other than some limited municipal licenses.
 
infinity

infinity

Moderator
Staff member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Journeyman Electrician
Fred B said:
In NY they are licensed but there is no muscle behind their incompetence or recourse for HO for a bad inspection. Interesting is that they have to be licensed but not electricians other than some limited municipal licenses.
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Given the potential cost for a mistake they should be licensed. I've dealt with all good HI's over the years, some really good, some not so good. Many have told me that the electrical portion of a home inspection is the hardest part of the job.
 
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