jtara92101 Posted October 2, 2016 Author Share Posted October 2, 2016 Well, I did find it. It feeds the GFCI in the other bathroom. Yes, that's what I said - the G F C I in the other bathroom. One GFCI feeds another GFCI from it's load terminals. Is there any good reason to wire this to the load side of the GFI, if there is a GFI in the other bathroom? Is there any good reason to put a GFI in the other bathroom if it is protected upstream? GFI in both bathroom provides the convenience of local reset. But any guarantee which one would trip first? And is this to code? Since the GFI in other bathroom is literally 1 inch from the tub, I think if it trips, I want to give the user a "time out" to think about it carefully. A trip to the other bathroom would provide that! BTW, I've just put in new AFCI/GFCI at each location, in case that makes a difference. Will do some Googling before finalizing it. Link to comment
jtara92101 Posted October 2, 2016 Author Share Posted October 2, 2016 After some Googling, consensus seems to be they "may not work correctly", particularly if mixed types/ages. And one account of Inspector failing on the basis that it will confuse the homeowner. Only advantage I can see of doing this would be then the wire from bathroom A to bathroom B would gain AFCI protection. But it wasn't AFCI to start with. I will put AFCI/GFCI in both locations, but feed power to second bathroom from the line, not the load side of the first AFCI/GFCI. (Since I already have two.) Alternative would be to feed from the fist AFCI/GFCI load, and put a standard outlet in the second bathroom with one of the labels that comes in the box. So, my snarky label was short-lived. I will label it so that the next person will know where it goes. Link to comment
Teken Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 If a GFCI outlet is upstream and feeds down stream loads only one is required. If the upstream GFCI trips it will disconnect power to all other down stream outlets as expected. Depending upon where you live each down stream outlet needs to be identified as GFCI protected with the included sticker. Link to comment
jtara92101 Posted October 3, 2016 Author Share Posted October 3, 2016 If a GFCI outlet is upstream and feeds down stream loads only one is required. If the upstream GFCI trips it will disconnect power to all other down stream outlets as expected. Depending upon where you live each down stream outlet needs to be identified as GFCI protected with the included sticker. Yes, that's what I thought and still think. I wound-up sending the line to the second location and installing AFCI/GFCI at each location, as I already had purchased two, and it IS more convenient and obvious. I once lived in a place that had a single GFCI for two bathrooms, and had a roommate who would constantly trip it with a hair dryer. (Not the breaker, but the GFCI - of course, suggests the hair dryer was defective... but the early GFCIs were pretty flakey too.) There are some things here that were apparently done by a homeowner, and I don't think they used a professional electrician. I can't imagine an electrician would borrow green as a hot! I know those ceiling cans were added later. What I don't know is if additional work was done in 2008 when the building was converted to condo - I will make some inquiries, as I am curious about that. The building was built in 1927, and renovated in 1999-2000. It got all new electrical and "all new plumbing" (note the quotation marks) at that time. (HOA received a $6.5M settlement from developer fairly recently, like 2012 for construction defects and misrepresentation). The same red duct tape with magic marker was found in the kitchen marking line and load. None of that wiring could have been done subsequent to renovation, not easily at least. I'm surprised that the big commercial electrical contractor that did the original work (I know which one, and have spoken to them) would have labeled using red duct tape! So, maybe somebody came along later and labeled line/load. My guess is somebody along the way noticed no GFCI in the one bathroom, and replaced it "for safety", when it was perfectly safe to begin with. Or else there were roommates, and one got tired to the power cutting off due to a hair dryer... Link to comment
Teken Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 I had to laugh at the label marked *Don't Even* which gave me a good chuckle for awhile. In the past I did that on a long term project that I knew would span several years so didn't want to forget what something did. Low and behold 18 months later that same marking saved my bacon and hours of tracing. This was for a friends so called cabin in the woods which for most is a McMansion of sorts in the sticks. It never ceases to amaze me how people will spend tens of thousands of dollars on plush toys, make up, and random items. But when something as critical as the electrical system needs to be upgraded or fine tuned they find the cheapest SOB with zero understanding of NEC / CEC codes and let them loose? As an aside I charged my friend $85.XX an hour for my *Help* because this cheap fool wasn't going to learn. Link to comment
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