GFCI's

[noelmin1978]

The wiring in my Mother-in-law's house is about the oldest I have ever seen. Well, she had asked me to replace a receptacle outside with a GFCI. This of course was easy. However once I had tried to turn on the lights inside the house the GFCI (outside) had tripped, thus resulting in all the lights going out. I came to the conclusion that the lights in the house were wired through outside receptacle. Which is probably the reason why a GFCI was not put outside. Now here is the question, is it safe to put a standard receptacle outside with a weatherproofed box, or do I have to do some interior and exterior re-wiring?

 

[luke warmwater]

Re: GFCI's

Originally posted by noelmin1978:
The wiring in my Mother-in-law's house is about the oldest I have ever seen.

The Columbus House, outside of State College, PA, still has the old, old ,old, wooden wiremold type raceways with single conductors in it.

I came to the conclusion that the lights in the house were wired through outside receptacle.

The wires could probably be pigtailed to the Line side of the GFCI. But it is hard to say without actually seeing it.

Which is probably the reason why a GFCI was not put outside.

Actually it was probably not required at the time of installation.

Now here is the question, is it safe to put a standard receptacle outside with a weatherproofed box, or do I have to do some interior and exterior re-wiring?

It is safer to have all exterior receptacles GFCI protected, and in new residential construction, they must be.
You should get a local qualified electrician (if you are not) to look at it for you and at least give you a survey.

 

[physis]

Re: GFCI's

I agree, I've seen situations with similar symptoms in one case be very simple and in another be very confusing.

 

[jeff43222]

Re: GFCI's

Nowadays the NEC requires outside receptacles to have GFCI protection in most cases (there are a few exceptions). Any receptacle exposed to the weather must also be in a "weatherproof while in use" box.

Turning on the lights inside the house shouldn't cause the GFCI receptacle outside to trip, but I could see it happening if the light and GFCI receptacle are on opposite phases and sharing a neutral. There could be other causes, too, but it's hard to speculate without being able to look at it.

As to whether it's safe to put a standard receptacle outside in a weatherproof box, it all depends on what you define as "safe." Having a working GFCI receptacle outside is safer than having a non-GFCI receptacle out there. It also depends on what is causing the GFCI to trip. If it's tripping because of induced voltage caused by turning on the light (I've seen similar similar situations occur), then what you have is a nuisance rather than a safety problem. But if there really is a ground fault occuring, then replacing the GFCI receptacle with a standard one could result in a fatal accident. Right now, I have no way of knowing what's causing the problem.

I agree that this is a job for a qualified electrician. If your mother-in-law lives in or near Minneapolis, feel free to give me a call.

[ December 25, 2004, 02:05 AM: Message edited by: jeff43222 ]