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shader
Aug 1, 2010, 10:58 AM
Trying to settle a “discussion” with a friend. I know, at least I think I know:D, that you don’t connect GFI outlets together as they fight each other. That is, running the second GFI outlet off the LOAD side of the first outlet. When I gutted and redid my bathrooms, I put them on dedicated circuits (for the outlets only) with GFCI breakers in the panel. My friend says I should still use GFI outlets for added protection, I say no, since the GFI breaker operates on the same principle as a GFI outlet, and the branch circuit side of the breaker is the load side, they would fight each other. Clarification please….. Thanks

KISS
Aug 1, 2010, 11:20 AM
One is recommended, because if they all were "protecting", you would have too many to check.

Outlets vs breakers are basically a matter of convienience. You don't have to run to the panel to reset it.

Now, you can use ONE GFCI outlet to protect everything downstream from that outlet. Those downstream outlets don't have to be GFCI. There are usually labels included to label the other outlets as GFCI protected.

So, they don't fight. Since each one has manufacturing tolerences, it's possible that one GFCI could trip before the other one. You would just have to check each one for a trip. The possibility of multiple singly or multiple reset locations just cause confusion.

GFCI's protect against a couple of failures. One being GFCI another being a shared neutral and a third incorrect polarity. The last feature may or may not be present as far as I know.

The GFCI portion works by directly subtracting the current in the neutral and the hot by using a current transformer. The imbalance detected is about 6/1000 of an AMP. Grounds are not necessary for GFCI's to work.

The operation of 240 GFCI's are slightly different.

stanfortyman
Aug 1, 2010, 11:22 AM
No, GFI's absolutely do not fight each other. While it is not good wiring practice, there is nothing inherently wrong with having a GFI on the load side of a GFI.

GeorgeLeigh50
Aug 1, 2010, 11:24 AM
The panel breaker normally comes with little stickers that go on the outlets installed on that circuit to let you know those are GFCI's. Since the GFCI outlets are more expensive than regular ones, no one would use them and a GFCI breaker if they knew what they were doing. But the outlets are more convenient in that you can test them with the little button right there at the source, instead of needing to go to the fuse panel to check them, which you can easily forget to do.

Stratmando
Aug 1, 2010, 12:59 PM
I find the GFI breakers more expensive than the recepticles.
Instead of having 2 GFI's in series, I would have 2nd GFI on LINE side, This way if it trips, it is Right There.

shader
Aug 1, 2010, 01:16 PM
Thanks for the clarification guys, learn something new every time I ask. I went with the GFCI breakers, yes $$$, but only because the way the baths are configured it was easier to GFI at the panel when it came to routing the conduit since I also needed to GFI the shower & bath overhead light/fan combo. Hopefully, I won't be making too many trips to the load center...