I hope this is simple. I want to add a GFCI receptacle on the wall of my bathroom behind a medicine cabinet. The closest electrical is a switch for my bathroom fan. Even though we have just one switch, it seems it was wired for separate control, because we have 12/3 wire coming into the switch box. Neutral is capped and red/black are attached to the switch.
Can I tap into this for the GFCI receptacle? I had trouble finding a matching diagram even though I know this is a common configuration (12/2 into fan then 12/3 to switch). How does the circuit work right now before I make changes? I will likely retrofit the bath fan soon and would like to have separate control.
Best Answer
Assuming your fan switch is wired normally, it has the following wires:
Trust, but Verify
You should first verify that black and red are wired correctly. We can be fairly certain that white is indeed neutral because it is capped off, which is normal for a modern basic switch installation.
Install the new Cable
The new wire should be 12/2. You may only need 15A but since you (a) are installing a dual receptacle so you CAN install it on a 20A circuit and (b) if you changed to 14/2 you would have to replace the 20A breaker that is likely in place (since all the existing wiring is 12), stick with 12 so you don't have to change the breaker.
These instructions assume the black wire is hot.
In the switch box:
Run the new cable to the new box. In the new box:
Do not use the Load screws on the GFCI receptacle at this time.
Then turn on the breaker and make sure the switch/fan and new receptacles all work.