Wiring – GFI reset is behind refrigerator, need to remove refrigerator from circuit and relocate GFI

gfcioutletsrefrigeratorwiring

I am looking at purchasing a home in Florida, built in 2005.

Our home inspector was not the smartest cookie in the jar, but accidently discovered some strange things. So far, this is what I have figured out:

All of the kitchen outlets and exterior outlets are wired into one GFI circuit, and the reset is the actual refrigerator outlet, located, of course, behind the refrigerator.

First, is there a code requirement that could help me have the seller fix this problem? I am thinking that there are probably 8 outlets wired together, and one of the has the fridge load. Seems like a pretty high number?

Second, what is the simplest way to rewire this? I don't know which side of the fridge is load, but in this case am assuming it is in line since is it located between the kitchen outlets and the exterior outlets. If I can find the outlet directly upstream, and the next one downstream, can I rewire to put GFI protection on either side of the fridge but remove it from the fridge itself?

Thank you

Best Answer

Find the next outlet downstream from the GFCI behind the refrigerator. Then (with the power off) swap the receptacle devices between those boxes, taking care to be sure the GFCI now in the "2nd box on the circuit" is correctly wired. The refrigerator will NOT be GFCI protected this way.

You can find which outlets are downstream of the refrigerator outlet simply by test tripping that GFCI. This won't tell you which is the next one, but it most likely is the closest one. Once you have the GFCI in the new box, test it to be sure it does shut off the others on the same circuit. There should be two circuits with GFCI. Test the other one for correct operation, too. With both GFCIs tripped, every kitchen outlet should be off, except the dedicated one.

You should have the refrigerator (and other heavy load devices like a microwave oven) on dedicated circuits (this is the point to negotiate with the seller). The refrigerator can share with a freezer (as long as it is not in a garage). They do not need to be on GFCI unless the kitchen has a wet material floor (like concrete, or in a garage).