electricalgfci
I have a GFCI in garage that protects one receptacle in the garage and one in the yard.
The GFCI receptacle itself feeds the sprinkler timer. The other receptacle in the garage is hardly used. The receptacle in the yard is used for a small water feature pump.
Occasionally, the pump trips the GFCI. I am looking for a safe solution. First I thought,
maybe I could change the yard receptacle with a GFCI (two GFCI in one line), but I read that is not a good idea. Any safe solution?
The below steps describe how to disable a safety feature by removing GFCI protection from your circuit. Check with local codes and verify that the problem isn't simply a bad GFCI or malfunctioning appliance before considering following these steps.
It sounds like your normal outlet is wired to the GFCI, making it a protected outlet.
Turn the power off, and remove the GFCI. You should see Black and White wires connected to the "LINE" Terminals, and another pair Connected to the "LOAD" Terminals. Devices with motors can trip GFCI outlets due to inductive loads at start up or shutdown.
Get yourself some spare wire. If you don't have any, buy a foot of 14/2 household wire from the local Orange or Blue Big Box Store. Also pick up some wire nuts rated for 3 14 ga wires.
You'll need to cut 4-6 inch white and black "jumper" wires and strip the ends.
Disconnect all wires from the GFCI, and screw in the LOAD screws all the way. I like to tape them off with electrical tape.
Attach one end to the LINE Terminals, matching white to white and black to black. (Brass screw is black, Metal screw is white. Green screw is ground (green or bare).
Now wire the three white wires together with a wire nut. Similarly, wire the blacks. These are called Pigtails.
Wire the two remaining ground wires to the ground (green) screw on the GFCI.
Stuff the wires in and re-mount the outlet.
You've just unprotected the fridge and freezer. However, I'd put a label on the unprotected box "NOT GFCI" so that a future owner doesn't make any assumptions.
EDIT: There may be a code requirement to have all garage circuits GFCI protected. Check with your local authority before doing this.
NEC 2008
210.8 Ground-Fault Circuit-Interrupter Protection for Personnel.
(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.(2) Garages, and also accessory buildings that have a floor located at or below grade level not intended as habitable rooms and limited to storage areas, work areas, and areas of similar use.
There used to be an exception to the code, that said that a sump pump didn't have to be on a GFCI if it was on a dedicated circuit, and it was connected using a single receptacle*. And by "single receptacle" they meant a non-duplex receptacle. One like this...
With that said, "officially" there should be no problem with having a sump pump on a GFCI circuit. Unofficially, there are sometimes problems with sump pumps on GFCI circuits. The manufacturers are supposed to reduce or eliminate any leakage current, However, nobody sent the memo to manufacturers so they don't always get it right. Because of this, you may find that a sump pump does trip a GFCI from time to time.
If the GFCI was tripping every time, and immediately. You'll want to first verify that:
If all of this checks out, you may wan to consider using a single receptacle to connect the sump pump. While it's not up to code, a slight electric shock hazard may be preferable to a flooded house. Though a house flooded with electrified water, might not be the best thing ever.
I will say that a sump pump installation does not require the circuit to which the pump is connected to be upgraded, if the pump is connected to the circuit in a cord and plug configuration.
**citation needed*
Best Answer
You can use multiple GFCI devices on a single circuit, you just cannot connect them inline with each other. If your current wiring looks like this, where the yard receptacle is connected to the
loadside of the GFCI receptacle in the garage.You can change the way the second receptacle is supplied, by connecting it in parallel with the existing GFCI receptacle. Then you can swap the receptacle in the yard, with a GFCI receptacle.
In this configuration, the GFCI in the garage will only trip if a ground-fault is detected in any device plugged in to it. While the GFCI in the yard will trip if any device plugged in to it, has a ground-fault.
If the GFCI protecting the circuit is a combination GFCI/circuit breaker, you'll have to swap it out for a regular circuit breaker. Then you'll have to protect individual outlets appropriately, using other GFCI devices.