Looking For A Reference

jpope · February 1, 2006, 8:24pm

Can anyone tell me, is there a requirement that interior and exterior circuits be separate?

The three garage receptacles and three exterior receptacles were protected by an upstream GFCI receptacle located in the hallway of the home.

This was a warranty inspection on a home built under the 1999 NEC guidelines.

lfranklin · February 1, 2006, 8:38pm

No requirment that I know of

jhagarty · February 1, 2006, 9:58pm

Ditto.

ecrofutt · February 1, 2006, 10:00pm

Tritto.

gbeaumont · February 1, 2006, 10:05pm

Quittro :mrgreen:

jwilliams4 · February 1, 2006, 10:18pm

Heck, I don’t know.

pabernathy · February 1, 2006, 10:27pm

Jeff,

They are all correct.

The common practice is to hit a receptacle at the main panel and place the GFCI recept. at that location and then loop to the exterior receptacles as well.

Now we do not see this done very much in the manner you stated by a hall receptacle....because in most cases the outside recepts and garage recepts are done in 12-2 ( 20A ) and in many cases the interior wiring lets say in the hall would be 14-2 ( 15A)....not to say it all cant be done in 12-2..but I think you get the point.

The thing I see alot on homes in the mid 90’s is the GFCI understanding when it came to bathrooms…It used to be a thing to hit the bathroom recepts with GFCI and then hit all the outside recepts also…but then the 1999 NEC took care of that…with the bathroom requirements and it expanded from that.

But their is nothing that prohibits the exterior recepts from being on a circuit with the interior circuits…keeping in mind as you stated the outside ones are protected by GFCI either 15A or 20A…can be either.

jpope · February 2, 2006, 12:16am

I’ve never seen it done this way before so I had to ask. It was the only interior receptacle on the circuit, all protected by a 20 amp OCPD at the distribution panel.

Thanks for the confirmation.

tpope · February 2, 2006, 4:27am

So, can bathroom and exterior GFCI be on the same circuit?

jhagarty · February 2, 2006, 4:40am

Yes.

I have not found anything to suggest otherwise to date.

Greg_Fretwell · February 2, 2006, 6:22am

The bathroom receptacles can have no other outlets, same with the kitchen. That leaves the basement and/or garage GFCI(s). Either could go outside.The advantage is that your GFCI device is not out in the weather.

pabernathy · February 2, 2006, 1:40pm

NO…they cant be on the same circuit…in regards to bathroom recepts and other receptacles…

pabernathy · February 2, 2006, 1:46pm

NEC states in Art 210.11©(3)- Bathroom Branch Circuits- In addition to the number of branch circuitd required by parts of this section, at least one 20-ampere branch circuit SHALL BE provided to supply the bathroom receptacle outlet(s). Such circuit SHALL have no other outlets.

Exception: Where the 20-ampere circuit supplies a single bathroom, outlets from other equipment within the same bathroom SHALL BE permitted to be supplied in accordance with 210.23(A)

tpope · February 2, 2006, 2:33pm

Thanks guys. Glad I asked. :mrgreen:

Pierre_Belarge · April 23, 2006, 2:31pm

The requirements for GFCI protected circuits/receptacles undergoes changes in every code cycle. The code cycles for awhile now have been every three years (this was not always the case). When inspecting for this type of situation, it is important to know which code cycle the installation was performed under. There are a lot of installations (even just a couple of years old) that would not meet todays code, but were compliant when installed.
Remember most codes are not retroactive. If you feel it is a safety hazard, maybe a suggestion to have a qualified licensed electrical contractor to take a look at it.