12-3 wiring for GFCI receptacle

satoecho · Feb 2, 2011, 09:58 AM

Thanks! Is there any problem if red wire leave it alone with cap on? Such as power leakage? As long as wire is capped its safe? If red wire hooked on LINE(GFCI) what is the possible risk? Burnt out? And also I put 20amp GFCI receptacle but the old outlet was 15 amp. Should I mutch?

donf · Feb 3, 2011, 06:38 PM

Okay lets cover one initial problem in description for you.

The Red and Black conductors are ungrounded (Hot) conductors.

The White conductor is a grounded (Neutral or Return) conductor, not a hot conductor.

A split receptacle means that the top receptacle(s) is on its own circuit and the bottom is on an entirely different circuit. The Neutral wire is "Shared" between the two breakers.

If you look inside the main service panel, you should see two breakers tied together and labeled for the kitchen. The top breaker would be (most likely the Black conductor) and the lower breaker would be the Red conductor.

Without actually seeing the panel box, there are two possible solutions. Cap each red conductor in the circuit at each receptacle and remove the double breaker and replace it with a single 20 amp breaker. Also cap off the the red conductor in the panel box.

The second way is to just cap off the red conductors at the outlets and leave the breaker in place. However, that does have you using both breakers where only one is needed.

satoecho · Feb 4, 2011, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by donf

Okay lets cover one initial problem in description for you.

The Red and Black conductors are ungrounded (Hot) conductors.

The White conductor is a grounded (Neutral or Return) conductor, not a hot conductor.

A split receptacle means that the top receptacle(s) is on its own circuit and the bottom is on an entirely different circuit. The Neutral wire is "Shared" between the two breakers.

If you look inside the main service panel, you should see two breakers tied together and labeled for the kitchen. The top breaker would be (most likely the Black conductor) and the lower breaker would be the Red conductor.

Without actually seeing the panel box, there are two possible solutions. Cap each red conductor in the circuit at each receptacle and remove the double breaker and replace it with a single 20 amp breaker. Also cap off the the red conductor in the panel box.

The second way is to just cap off the red conductors at the outlets and leave the breaker in place. However, that does have you using both breakers where only one is needed.

Thanks DonF. Make sense. I saw the service panel and two breaker was tied together. Actually there 4 breakers (2 tied breakers) I will look into that. Kind of scarely working on service panels.

donf · Feb 4, 2011, 01:15 PM

If you believe that working on a service panel is scary, then please do not go near the project.

Even though the main service panel most often has a Main Circuit Breaker, the only way to make absolutely certain all of the panel is dead is to pull the meter or if there is a disconnect switch in between the meter and service panel.

Trust me, if you do not know exactly what you are doing, you can very easily kill yourself.

Please call a licensed electrician. Any money spent that keeps you on this side of the grass is money well spent.

12-3 wiring for GFCI receptacle

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