Help on Hooking up GFCI recepticle

[Gary L]

I wanted to change my kitchen outlet to GFI...now how do i go about doing it. Is it something easy, or should i have an Electrican do it. I've always do much of the things on my house like hooking up a celing fan or light fixture so i'm pretty much a handy person ..so any pointers on

how to go about doing it

 

[EddieS'04]

Very simple..straight forward...put the correct wires on the correct connections..the GFI takes over from there..basicaly the same as replacing a non gfi...I did the same in my kitchen and bathroom....



Edit; Unless you are experianced working with live power...shut off the breaker and test it before you pull the old one...

 

[Keith McElroy]

Changing out regular outlets to GFCI is pretty easy if you have a good ground in place. If several outlets are chained together, put the GF outlet in the first one (closest to the source) so they will all be protected by it. If you don't know, it is best to replace them all.



Just make sure the power is off before you start (obvious to most, but always rule #1).

 

[Michael Cacioppo]

Star36, as stated above, its just like replacing a standard duplex. If you are daisey chaining the power to another receptical, be sure to feed the other duplex from the proper terminals on the GFI. One set will feed non-GFI protection, while the other will also also be GFI protected. Most things are not very difficult. It is the lack of confidence that obviously makes us leary. It is straight forward and you definitely can do it. Open the circuit breaker feeding the duplex in question. I always short the black (power) and white (return) after the power is disconnected as an extra precaution in the event that somehow the circuit still has power.

 

[TomT]

For a couple of bucks you can buy an outlet circuit checker. You just plug it in and little lights come on and tell you if it's hooked up right.

Also make sure you have a good ground.

 

[Todd Z]

it is as simple as replacing a standard outlet.. The only thing that can be tricky, IS if the circuit that the outlet is on feeds other outlets, Then you have to pigtail the outlet as not to over draw the GFI outlet..

Todd Z

 

[Gary L]

Well , their is 4 outlet that are connected in series... Now is this mean i can hook up one GFI

To the one close to the biginning of the series connection and the other 3 will be protected by the the GFI outlet.if i'm understanding clearly i belive that is what eledhel stated?

:unsure:

 

[Fred]

Yes. If you connect the remaining receptacles to the GFCI receptacle's terminals labeled "Load".



If you connect the remaining receptacles under the same point, labeled "line" as your source voltage coming INTO the GFCI, then the remaining receptacles will be energized, but not GFCI protected.



Edit: Since this is for your kitchen:

Sometime you have to have a non-GFCI receptacle for your refrigerator. I was told that the refrigerator's compressor can trip a GFCI. If your refrigerator is downstream from the GFCI receptacle you're installing, you may have to feed the frig from the "line" side of the GFCI.

 

[Fred]

Check this Star36.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

And, as Fred said, even if you were not worried about your frig tripping the GFCI, you should have it on a seperate non-GFCI circuit as something else could always cause a ground fault and you don't want your frig off for hours or days until you realize the circuit is out.



Ground-fault circuits seem to be very sensitive and trip for the smallest things, or so is my experience. Never run anything that requires HIGH AVAILABILITY off them.



TJR

 

[Gary L]

Thanks you guys