Where do I need a GFI in my kitchen?

Protestors will be assembling there in the morning.

I woke up and there are people with signs in my front yard.

Pretty sad all the big cities here bring a bad name to our little towns.

Boy, they look angry.....

They do! I better not tell them how many I have.

I told you. It is not just me who is still confused on that damn "Line Vs. Load" crap!

The GFCI needs to be the first outlet in the branch circuit from the circuit breaker box. The other outlets that are connected to it will be protected by the GFCI.

It depends on how the wiring was done. In modern wiring yes you go from the breaker to first outlet with GFI and then daisy chain all the others in a line. Some of the old methods were to do what they call octopus wiring. Go to a light say then off to each outlet from there.

In my house whoever wired the basement came off the breaker to a GFI outlet about a foot from the panel. Then ran all the basement lights off that.


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He'll figure it out

Maybe we can sort this out ...

1. Simply, the GFCI will trip if you are receiving a shock. It is a spring loaded device which senses a dangerous load situation and acts faster than you can move.

2. A typical breaker is thermally activated when it sees an overload on a circuit exceeding its rating, e.g., 15A or 20A. It takes time to heat the breaker unless it is a dead short.

3. How many GFCIs are needed? In residential, I have one per circuit at the "front" of the circuit to protect the full run. While I have heard conflicting remarks, I now believe multiple GFCIs can be put on the same circuit but they add nothing. Here is a caution ... Modern code requires a separate circuit for your refrigerator. Why? If there is only one circuit to all appliances in the kitchen and one GFCI at the front of the run, if the GFCI trips (due to refrigerator startup?), you might lose power to the refrig ... and ruin your food. In kitchen remodeling DIY, it is probably best to run that extra circuit just for extra protection.

4. As to "Line" versus "Load", that is easy. Your power-in from the main is your LINE power and must be attached to those lugs as indicated on the back of the GFCI. If you are doing a longer run to another receptacle, those wires attach at the LOAD position as indicated on the GFCI. The LOAD wires then become the LINE feed for the next GFCI receptacle as if it had originated from the main. If you choose not to use additional GFCIs downstream, just connect the LOAD wires as you would with any receptacle.

That diagram really helped me. Thank you for finally making it sink it!

One more GFCI item that IS important to share ... Pay VERY CLOSE attention to the labeling on the backside of the GFCI as to where the LINE and LOAD connections need to be made.

Older GFCIs have the LINE and LOAD connections opposite where the newer GFCIs require it! Newer GFCIs have the LINE connection on top. Older GFCIs reverse this, putting the LOAD connection on top.

Attention to detail is essential. Today, I replaced a number of older GFCIs with this feature ... and could have made a real mess of the place had I knot known about this.

I'm at my mountain house now. Tomorrow after hunting I will check it out.

New in box GFCI have a label over the LOAD connections that needs to be removed before use.

kok328 said:

Quiet an assortment of answers and questions here for a product that has been on the market for years.
We first have to ask what is the circuit layout for the kitchen.
It might be possible but, not likely that all the receptacles are from different circuits in which case each circuit should be protected per code requirements.
I'm not a big fan of "grandfathering" electrical. Changes in electrical code are for safety reasons. I'm not saying that everyone should update as code changes but, consider them as a safety upgrades when possible.
Also, be sure not to have the refrigerator on a GFCI protected circuit because if the outlet trips, you will loose all your food. The fridge should ideally be on a dedicated circuit but, if that is not possible, the fridge outlet should be before the GFCI outlet.

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The difficulty there is that the code requires that all of the counter top receptacles in the kitchen and dining room must be GFCI protected. If the plug for the refrigerator is behind the fridge then it is no longer a counter top receptacle even if it is on the same individual branch circuit as other counter top receptacles.

--
Tom Horne

hornetd said:

The difficulty there is that the code requires that all of the counter top receptacles in the kitchen and dining room must be GFCI protected. If the plug for the refrigerator is behind the fridge then it is no longer a counter top receptacle even if it is on the same individual branch circuit as other counter top receptacles.

--
Tom Horne

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As I understand it, the fridge should not be on a gfi and it should have it's own crcuit. But if it were on the same circuit, just feed it with line power and bypass the gfi.

gfci needs to be installed with 3' of a wet area. {sink}

frodo said:

gfci needs to be installed with 3' of a wet area. {sink}

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PLEASE check your fact before making seemingly flat-out statement such as this. This is 100% WRONG.

There used to be a rule where kitchen receptacles within 6' had to be GFI protected. Now it is ALL receptacles serving counter tops.

Since no location is stated it could be correct. In Canada GFCI is only needed within 1.5m of the sink.

JoeD said:

Since no location is stated it could be correct. In Canada GFCI is only needed within 1.5m of the sink.

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Joe, dosn't that change when you have 20 amp outlets?

NO. Any receptacle within 1.5m of a sink needs GFCI. We have the option to use 20 amp T slots or split 15 amp receptacles in the kitchen. The 20 amp option is used so that a GFCI receptacle can be used instead of a double GFCI breaker that would be required for a split wired 15 amp circuit.