Why would a gfi be required on a furnace circuit to plug in a condensate pump in an unfinished basement

Part of the electric code says "GFCI outlets must be installed in any area where electricity and water may come into contact" Who is telling you that you must do this?

City inspector even though the code states ufinished basement recepticals not a furnace all 90% furnaces condesate and is the pump now part of the applanice why would they want an open receptical on a dedicated circuit

City inspectors are a bit like a baseball umpire, they make mistakes but rarely back down. If you can produce a current copy of the electric code your city follows, showing this is not needed then he may reconsider.

Hold it there Bob, I umpired for almost 25 years and I've never had a play I had to back-down on. Every call I made was the correct call, just ask me.

Question, is the receptacle part of the equipment as it came from the manufacturer?

If it s, the electrical inspector has no decision or ruling on the subject. It is up to the manufacturer to design and the UL Certification lab to list the product. That not under the auspices of the NEC.

However, if you are installing the receptacle on a wall, then the inspector is correct. The NEC requires that unfinished basements have GFI protected receptacles.

Part of the electric code says "GFCI outlets must be installed in any area where electricity and water may come into contact"This is actually not true, and is kind of an suburban legend. There is NOTHING in the code that even remotely states this.

The requirements for GFIs are area specific. True, all those areas are subject to being, or getting wet, but water is not mentioned.

Things like the above quote are when makes folks thing a GFI is required near water pipes and other places.

CITY INSPECTOR EVEN THOUGH THE CODE STATES UFINISHED BASEMENT RECEPTICALS NOT A FURNACE ALL 90% FURNACES CONDESATE AND IS THE PUMP NOW PART OF THE APPLANICE WHY WOULD THEY WANT AN OPEN RECEPTICAL ON A DEDICATED CIRCUITOn a personal note, if you lost the caps, and wrote in sentences it would be MUCH easier to read and comprehend your posts.

OK, that said, a condensate pump is NOT part of the equipment. It is an accessory piece.
I am not sure where it was stated that he said anything about a dedicated circuit. Did he say that?
Regardless, a 120v receptacle in an unfinished basement or crawl space MUST be GFI protected. Period.
The circuit does not need the GFI protection, just any receptacles.

I would have thought that this part of 210.8A would apply "(7) Any Outlets for a wet bar or within 6ft of a water source will be GFI protected. Meaning say you decide to put an indoor hot tub in your home, as an example. All outlets within 6ft. of that tub shall be GFI protected."

I had a new furnace installed all mech. Passed, but electrical inspector wants me to remove a swith/plug add a swith and a gfi to plug in condesate pump. Is this a proper interpetation of the code.

Need to read all of NEC 2008 Edition Section 210.8, seems clear to me by item #5 the receptacle for the con-pump needs to be GFI protected:

210.8 Ground-Fault Circuit-Interrupter Protection for Personnel.
FPN: See 215.9 for ground-fault circuit-interrupter protection for personnel on feeders.

(A) Dwelling Units. All 125-volt, single-phase, 15- and 20-ampere receptacles installed in the locations specified in (1) through (8) shall have ground-fault circuit-interrupter protection for personnel.

(5) Unfinished basements — for purposes of this section, unfinished basements are defined as portions or areas of the basement not intended as habitable rooms and limited to storage areas, work areas, and the like

Exception to (5): A receptacle supplying only a permanently
installed fire alarm or burglar alarm system shall not be required to have ground-fault circuit-interrupter protection.

FPN: See 760.41(B) and 760.121(B) for power supply requirements for fire alarm systems.
Receptacles installed under the exception to 210.8(A)(5) shall not be considered as meeting the requirements of 210.52(G).

One Code edition back they allowed appliances such as pumps, fridges, etc to be no GFI protected. No longer, as the Code makers now consider the products to be better made, and less prone to nusinance tripping, all can handle GFI devices, and if there are any trips, most likely there is a real problem.

The inspector is following Code. I assume the 2008 edition to be the most used NEC code.

I would have thought that this part of 210.8A would apply "(7) Any Outlets for a wet bar or within 6ft of a water source will be GFI protected. That is NOT the text for that section. Like I said, "water source" is not mentioned in the code.

210.8(A)(7) is "Sinks". This was changed from wet bar sink and laundry sink. It was changed to any kind of "sink". So no, a furnace would not apply here.

The part TK quoted above does.

The old exception for non-GFI was only for large appliances that occupied the space in front of, and blocked, the receptacle(s).

I had a new furnace installed all mech. passed, but electrical inspector wants me to remove a swith/plug add a swith and a gfi to plug in condesate pump. Is this a proper interpetation of the code.Absolutely yes. :)

Isn't this an exact quote from 210.8A "(7) Any Outlets for a wet bar or within 6ft of a water source will be GFI protected" or has it been paraphrased somehow?

Word for word from:

2011 NEC -
(7) Sinks — located in areas other than kitchens where receptacles are installed within 1.8 m (6 ft) of the outside edge of the sink


2008 NEC -
(7) Laundry, utility, and wet bar sinks — where the receptacles are installed within 1.8 m (6 ft) of the outside edge of the sink