I replaced several wall outlet circuits in my circa 1957 ranch style house. The originals had no grounds except for a couple of grounded outlets in the kitchen that were grounded to the water pipe. I brought the kitchen, one of the bathrooms, and one wall of the living room up to current code.
For those outlets I did not replace, the outlet boxes are so small that I was not able to squeeze a GFCI outlet into them, so I bought some GFCI breakers for those circuits figuring I could then use duplex outlets on the circuits (with appropriate labels) without having an actual ground wire run.
As I was just starting to install the GFCI, I actually read the instructions. The instructions state “To be installed only on a single phase 120/240 VAC grounded system”. The accompanying diagram shows a ground wire going from the protected outlet back to the ground bar in the main breaker panel.
Does this mean what I tend to think it means – that I cannot use this to protect duplex outlets on the circuit that do not have an equipment grounding conductor running back to ground? Arrgh!!! If so, does anyone know of a reduced size GFCI that might fit into a reduced size outlet box?
Replies
I have no reason for that statement.
The NEC clearly allows it.
406.3(d)
(3) Nonûgrounding-Type Receptacles Where grounding means does not exist in the
receptacle enclosure, the installation shall comply with (D)(3)(a),
(D)(3)(b), or (D)(3)(c).
(a) A nonûgrounding-type receptacle(s) shall be permitted to be replaced with
another nonûgrounding-type receptacle(s).
(b) A nonûgrounding-type receptacle(s) shall be permitted to be replaced with a
ground-fault circuit interrupter-type of receptacle(s). These receptacles shall be
marked ``No Equipment Ground.'' An equipment grounding conductor shall not
be connected from the ground-fault circuit-interrupter-type receptacle to any
outlet supplied from the ground-fault circuit-interrupter receptacle.
(c) A nonûgrounding-type receptacle(s) shall be permitted to be replaced with a
grounding-type receptacle(s) where supplied through a ground-fault circuit
interrupter. Grounding-type receptacles supplied through the ground-fault circuit
interrupter shall be marked ``GFCI Protected'' and ``No Equipment Ground.'' An
equipment grounding conductor shall not be connected between the groundingtype
receptacles.
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
Edited 2/22/2008 8:48 pm by BillHartmann