GFCI requirements for general purpose rececptacles.

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Mattelectricnj

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Hello,

I am currently roughing out a space in a Subway station underground. The rooms will be used mostly as break rooms,storage rooms, small power tool shops(i.e. drill press,tablesaw, pistol drills etc.) The walls will be finished sheetrock and painted. The flooring in all these rooms will be bare unfinished concrete floors.

Other than any locations that may have sinks or Kitchenette specs which I know would require GFCI protection.
Would it be required that all the other general purpose receptacles throughout the rooms be GFCI as well, due to the bare concrete floors and the rooms being sub grade level?

Please include any NEC Articles that may be referenced if possible.

Thank you in advance for all your help!
 
I can not find any specific requirement for GFCI protected receptacles for areas with concrete floors only. However I do run into this debate with a lot of older inspectors. This makes me wonder if this was once a requirement.

The break room may need GFCI protection if there is a receptacle with in 6' of a sink [210.8(B)(5)] or a vending machine [422.51]. Other than that I would say no additional GFCI protection is required.
 
210.8(B) has the requirements for this.

parts 1 and 2 apply if you have a bathroom or a kitchen - in those instances all receptacles in those spaces are required to have protection.

I am for the moment disregarding 3 and 4 because I don't believe you are asking about rooftops or outdoor locations - but keep those in mind if they do apply to you.

Part 5 - sinks will apply within 6 feet of any sink in any room - though the bath and kitchen will have them anyway because of parts 1 and 2.

Part 6 - indoor wet locations - if you have some sort of wash down area or other normally wet location GFCI needed.

Part 7 -locker rooms / shower facilities - I think is self explanatory

Part 8 - Garages, service bays, and similar areas other than vehicle exhibition halls and showrooms - seems to fit what you described for the shop area, I'd put GFCI there without asking the AHJ what he thinks as it seems clear enough to me it is intended to be there.
 
joebell said:
I can not find any specific requirement for GFCI protected receptacles for areas with concrete floors only. However I do run into this debate with a lot of older inspectors. This makes me wonder if this was once a requirement.

The break room may need GFCI protection if there is a receptacle with in 6' of a sink [210.8(B)(5)] or a vending machine [422.51]. Other than that I would say no additional GFCI protection is required.
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I'm an "old" inspector. so old, as a matter of fact, that when I started in the trade, there were no GFCI receptacles required in resi.
 
Hendrix said:
I'm an "old" inspector. so old, as a matter of fact, that when I started in the trade, there were no GFCI receptacles required in resi.
Click to expand...

No GFCI's, no smokes, no lotsa stuff.

On the positive side, death by fire (or smoke inhalation) in the US has gone WAY down since the smoke detector requirements. Smokes give you early enough warning to escape in about 99% of fires. One notable exception is a burning Christmas tree; if you can't get out the closest window you're done.
 
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