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GFCI Outlet Wiring Question Alan 08-06-2005
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Posted by Alan on August 6, 2005, 2:51 pm


Hi,

I have an outside outlet that is not GFCI. I wish to add a GFCI outlet.
Normally this would be no problem as the wiring is pretty straight forward.
However, on this particular outlet, the upper outlet (of the two) is wired
to a switch inside the house and the lower outlet is always on. So instead
of having ground (copper), neutral (white) and hot (black) to wire, I have
ground, neutral, hot and a red wire which I assume is a second hot.

How do I handle this? I wish to keep the outlet the way it is today with
one switched and one always on.

Alan




Posted by CL (dnoyeB) Gilbert on August 6, 2005, 3:33 pm


Alan wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have an outside outlet that is not GFCI. I wish to add a GFCI outlet.
> Normally this would be no problem as the wiring is pretty straight forward.
> However, on this particular outlet, the upper outlet (of the two) is wired
> to a switch inside the house and the lower outlet is always on. So instead
> of having ground (copper), neutral (white) and hot (black) to wire, I have
> ground, neutral, hot and a red wire which I assume is a second hot.
>
> How do I handle this? I wish to keep the outlet the way it is today with
> one switched and one always on.
>
> Alan
>
>

is the switch fed by a circuit that leaves the outlet, or is it fed
seperately? if its fed seperately, try putting the gfci somewhere that
it can feed both of those circuits and then you can use a regular outlet
outside as it is now. you can also do a gfci circuit breaker I
believe. Not sure what is code though.



--
Respectfully,


CL Gilbert


Posted by Alan Whitehouse on August 6, 2005, 7:57 pm


> Alan wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I have an outside outlet that is not GFCI. I wish to add a GFCI outlet.
>> Normally this would be no problem as the wiring is pretty straight
>> forward. However, on this particular outlet, the upper outlet (of the
>> two) is wired to a switch inside the house and the lower outlet is always
>> on. So instead of having ground (copper), neutral (white) and hot
>> (black) to wire, I have ground, neutral, hot and a red wire which I
>> assume is a second hot.
>>
>> How do I handle this? I wish to keep the outlet the way it is today with
>> one switched and one always on.
>>
>> Alan
>
> is the switch fed by a circuit that leaves the outlet, or is it fed
> seperately? if its fed seperately, try putting the gfci somewhere that it
> can feed both of those circuits and then you can use a regular outlet
> outside as it is now. you can also do a gfci circuit breaker I believe.
> Not sure what is code though.
>
>
>
> --
> Respectfully,
>
>
> CL Gilbert


Unfortunately, the outlet and switch come straight from the breaker and
there is no other outlet upstream that I can put the GFCI on.

Any other suggestions?




Posted by FDR on August 7, 2005, 1:28 am



>> Alan wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I have an outside outlet that is not GFCI. I wish to add a GFCI outlet.
>>> Normally this would be no problem as the wiring is pretty straight
>>> forward. However, on this particular outlet, the upper outlet (of the
>>> two) is wired to a switch inside the house and the lower outlet is
>>> always on. So instead of having ground (copper), neutral (white) and
>>> hot (black) to wire, I have ground, neutral, hot and a red wire which I
>>> assume is a second hot.
>>>
>>> How do I handle this? I wish to keep the outlet the way it is today
>>> with one switched and one always on.
>>>
>>> Alan
>>
>> is the switch fed by a circuit that leaves the outlet, or is it fed
>> seperately? if its fed seperately, try putting the gfci somewhere that
>> it can feed both of those circuits and then you can use a regular outlet
>> outside as it is now. you can also do a gfci circuit breaker I believe.
>> Not sure what is code though.
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Respectfully,
>>
>>
>> CL Gilbert
>
>
> Unfortunately, the outlet and switch come straight from the breaker and
> there is no other outlet upstream that I can put the GFCI on.
>
> Any other suggestions?

Replace the breaker with a GFCI breaker




Posted by on August 6, 2005, 11:12 pm



>Hi,
>
>I have an outside outlet that is not GFCI. I wish to add a GFCI outlet.
>Normally this would be no problem as the wiring is pretty straight forward.
>However, on this particular outlet, the upper outlet (of the two) is wired
>to a switch inside the house and the lower outlet is always on. So instead
>of having ground (copper), neutral (white) and hot (black) to wire, I have
>ground, neutral, hot and a red wire which I assume is a second hot.
>
>How do I handle this? I wish to keep the outlet the way it is today with
>one switched and one always on.
>
>Alan
>

They make GFCI receptacle/switch combos but the local BORG may not
have them. Try an electrical supply house if you can't find one at the
big box.


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