Rec downstream of GFCI

[hillbilly]

I had a interesting service call this week.

Customer called because their vanity light in the bath wouldn't work.
This was in a small 2 room rental.

The light switch was in a two gang box with the GFCI receptacle.

The GFI receptacle wasn't tripped so I checked for power to the box...no power.
Checked breaker for the circuit.....not tripped.
Scratched my head, and then started checking boxes near by.

On the other side of the bath wall was the small kitchen which had 3 GFI receptacles on the (1) counter.

The first and second GFI weren't tripped, and there was no power in the boxes.

The third GFI recpt. was tripped.
I reset this receptacle and the bath light came on.:-?

The "electrician" had wired all three of the kitchen GFI receptacles in series and finally out to the Bath GFI.
If any of the three tripped, it would cut power to all the downstream receptacles.....including the bath light
Obviously, the sparky didn't understand how to feed hot thru a GFI receptacle....or how to use a single GFI to protect the others downstream.

I simply reset the GFI and gave a price to re-wire the kitchen and bath circuits to correct them.
This will require adding a new circuit for the bath receptacle and a second circuit to feed the Kitchen counter receptacles.
Going to do it Monday.:smile:

steve

 

[DanZ]

although it was code legal it was a pretty horrible design.

Hey, there's nothing in the code that says it has to be a good design, or look pretty. Trust me, I've looked.

The "electrician" had wired all three of the kitchen GFI receptacles in series and finally out to the Bath GFI.
If any of the three tripped, it would cut power to all the downstream receptacles.....including the bath light
Obviously, the sparky didn't understand how to feed hot thru a GFI receptacle....or how to use a single GFI to protect the others downstream.

That sounds like a burger king inspector. Or, maybe a Frank inspector. :roll:

 

[peter d]

Not really, my house has one GFCI breaker in the garage panel for all the required receptacles, and it has never tripped... its really not that big a deal.

In the interest of preserving peace and harmony here on the forum, I'll just go ahead and agree with you. :roll:

 

[peter d]

Hey, there's nothing in the code that says it has to be a good design, or look pretty. Trust me, I've looked.

I'm well aware of that. I've been in many heated discussions about that very issue.

I suppose I'm making much ado about nothing with regard to the single 15 amp circuit serving garage, bath, and outside receptacles. After all, there are gazillions of homes with that very setup. Nevertheless, the NEC did see the need for a dedicated, heavy duty circuit going to the bathroom(s.)