Home electrical question........

[JollySipper]

Guys, I just had a quick question for you all...... On a GFI protected circuit, will one GFI outlet protect the whole circuit? I ask because I have an outlet on either side of my kitchen sink. One is the GFI, the other is a regular plug........ The regular plug runs my microwave, the GFI one is never used..... Should they both be the safety plugs?

 

[Mark]

Not an electrician, but I'd bet on each outlet doing its own thing (GFI outlet will be protected, non-GFI outlet will not be).

[LennyB]

First GFI in the run will protect all the rest down the line.   So you always want to have the GFI in line closest to the breaker box..

[Fat Brian]

1 hour ago, LennyB said:

First GFI in the run will protect all the rest down the line.   So you always want to have the GFI in line closest to the breaker box..

This is correct, every outlet downstream of a GFCI outlet will be protected by it.

[Ace-Garageguy]

While it's indeed correct that outlets downstream of a GFI outlet are protected by it, I'm a cowardly belt-and-suspenders kinda guy when it comes to electricity, and I'm cowardly enough to feel better if both of them were GFI outlets.  

[DaveB]

Hit the test button on the GFCI so it trips, then plug something into the other outlets, if they are protected they will be dead.

[LennyB]

2 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

While it's indeed correct that outlets downstream of a GFI outlet are protected by it, I'm a cowardly belt-and-suspenders kinda guy when it comes to electricity, and I'm cowardly enough to feel better if both of them were GFI outlets.  

Both of them wouldn’t double their effectiveness and can actually cause the circuit to trip too easily.  

[Ace-Garageguy]

6 hours ago, JollySipper said:

Guys, I just had a quick question for you all...... On a GFI protected circuit, will one GFI outlet protect the whole circuit? I ask because I have an outlet on either side of my kitchen sink. One is the GFI, the other is a regular plug........ The regular plug runs my microwave, the GFI one is never used..... Should they both be the safety plugs?

 

Are you sure they're both on the same breaker, the same circuit?

[Ace-Garageguy]

2 hours ago, LennyB said:

Both of them wouldn’t double their effectiveness and can actually cause the circuit to trip too easily.  

Can you explain why that would be?

I understand that if the first one trips, it will kill power to the next one(s) down the line on the same circuit too, but why would having two on the same circuit make it "trip too easily"?

Not arguing...just want to understand the logic.

 

Edited January 30 by Ace-Garageguy

[JollySipper]

7 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Are you sure they're both on the same breaker, the same circuit?

I'm pretty sure they're on the same circuit, Bill..... They're like four feet apart. That doesn't mean anything in these apartments, though. A neighbor of mine had a GFI plug trip in her bathroom, and it killed power to the all-weather outlet on her front porch!

[LennyB]

8 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Can you explain why that would be?

I understand that if the first one trips, it will kill power to the next one(s) down the line on the same circuit too, but why would having two on the same circuit make it "trip too easily"?

Not arguing...just want to understand the logic.

 

I'm not an electrician and don't know the exact concept, but I know several electricians I consult regularly. I ran into an issue a while back when I installed a GFI on an outside outlet of my house and nothing worked. I already had one inside on the same circuit. I consulted one of them and was told not to put 2 GFI's on the same circuit. I had three outlets and some overhead lighting on the same circuit. Along with the 2 GFI themselves that also  draw a small amount of current. Apparently the first GFI saw too much fluctuation and shut everything down. FYI, if a circuit is wired properly, it should be a loop, everything will shut down on the circuit, not just outlets down stream.

The GFI is monitoring voltage fluctuations between the hot and the neutral and cuts power if it sees too much fluctuation of the power on that circuit. Just because it cuts the power doesn't necessarily mean there is an issue. I had another incident where I installed a brand new Multi-Function Copier for a client and as soon as we plugged it in the circuit shut down. There was a GFI in another room and the fluctuation of the machine booting up was enough to trip the GFI. Nothing wrong technically but the GFI saw it as a problem.

So going back to our original scenario of an outlet on both sides of the mirror, each with a GFI, if you have a hair dryer plugged into one and an electric shaver the other it might trip the circuit. And then the wife gets pissed because she's already late for work😖

[Rodent]

2 hours ago, JollySipper said:

I'm pretty sure they're on the same circuit, Bill..... They're like four feet apart. That doesn't mean anything in these apartments, though. A neighbor of mine had a GFI plug trip in her bathroom, and it killed power to the all-weather outlet on her front porch!

My 1979 California house is like that. Outside outlets need to be on a GFI circuit.

[DaveB]

3 hours ago, JollySipper said:

I'm pretty sure they're on the same circuit, Bill..... They're like four feet apart. That doesn't mean anything in these apartments, though. A neighbor of mine had a GFI plug trip in her bathroom, and it killed power to the all-weather outlet on her front porch!

That's perfectly normal. Our master bath has a GFCI, the guest bath does not, but it's downstream of the master bath GFCI so it's protected. One of our outside GFCI outlets send power to my shed, so even though the shed has no GFCI outlets it's still protected.

A GFCI outlet has a line and load side, line goes to the breaker panel to get power, any outlets connected to the load side will have GFCI protection, there is no point in chaining a GFCI outlet off of another GFCI outlet, you gain no additional protection.

Edited January 30 by DaveB

[Dave Ambrose]

It depends on how the GFCI socket is wired. If you've wired the downstream sockets through the GFCI socket, then they will be protected. If you haven't wired them through the GFCI socket, then they won't be protected. Easy way to tell is to get a socket test light. They usually have a GFCI test button. You can plug it in to a downstream socket, press that button, and the GFCI should trip.

[Brutalform]

The first GFCI wired correctly will protect other outlets in the circuit after it. The “line” side of the GFCI, should be wired to the incoming power. The “load” side of the GFCI, which will come with a sticker over the terminals, that must be removed, is where the wires will connect to, that will power the other outlets after it.  It’s a good idea to label the regular outlets that are protected “GFCI PROTECTED “ with a label on the switch plate. 

[Brutalform]

Basically what Dave said. My bad. 

[peteski]

Yes, GFCI outlets, if wired properly, will also extend the GFCI protection to the other outlets wired from them.  That fact (and how wire them for multiple outlets) is clearly shown in the instructions manual which is included in the outler's package. When you buy a GFCI outlet is usually included small stickers to stick on the additional protected outlets stating that they have GFCI protection.

But just the fact that other outlets are on the same breaker as GFCI outlet does not guarantee that they are wired properly.  Easy way to test those outlets would be to connect a small load between the HOT and GROUND on any of those outlets. That would trip the "master" GFCI outlet. But doing this test manually is not easy, however you can get GFCI tester which can do just that.

https://www.kleintools.com/catalog/electrical-testers/gfci-outlet-tester