testing both plugs

[Richard W. Washington]

Is it possible for one plug( of the two) for a 110, afci, or gfci to be incorrectly wired? or are both always going to be consistent with each other?
If you trip one Gfci plug (of the two) correctly is the second plug going to automatically trip correctly?

[Paul W. Abernathy]

Richard,

I am not sure I understand your question so please forgive me if my response is not what you are looking for. On a typical GFCI device you will have a line and load marking. If the GFCI device is wired properly it will function regardless of the polarity downstream of the device. If someone wires a receptacle improperly on the load side of the GFCI then it will read reverse polarity in your tester for that given device but as far as the GFCI device is concerned it will trip properly regardless.

Now, I am not sure if that is what you are asking...but I gave it a shot.

[Robert Meier]

Originally Posted by rwashington

Is it possible for one plug( of the two) for a 110, afci, or gfci to be incorrectly wired? or are both always going to be consistent with each other?
If you trip one Gfci plug (of the two) correctly is the second plug going to automatically trip correctly?

I'm guessing that you're referring to a duplex receptacle?

[Gary D. Rowden]

Originally Posted by rwashington

Is it possible for one plug( of the two) for a 110, afci, or gfci to be incorrectly wired?

Yes

Originally Posted by rwashington

or are both always going to be consistent with each other?

No not necessarily, they could be wired up differently or they could have separated dedicated circuits for each plug.

Originally Posted by rwashington

If you trip one Gfci plug (of the two) correctly is the second plug going to automatically trip correctly?

This could happen if the second GFCI is on the same circuit downstream. My question would be why you would have more than 1 GFCI on same circuit.


Or in case I miss understood this question, it all depends on how it’s wired up.

[William T. Misegades]

My question would be why you would have more than 1 GFCI on same circuit.

My last 2 inspections had not 2, not 3, not 4 but 5 GFCIs on the same circuit. The bathrooms were connected to the kitchen. I scratch my head a while and thought I would never be able to find the reset button.

[Richard W. Washington]

I apologize but my wording is not very clear. On a 110 outlet you can plug in, let's say, 2 lamp cords. Can one of the two plugs be, let's say, properly wired and one a hot/neutral reverse? I am just talking about one outlet.

I am essentially asking the same thing for a GFCI. Let's say the top plug will trip the circuit (with a GFCI tester) does that automatically mean the bottom one will too. I am just talking about "within" one outlet.

Hope that helps to clarify.

Happy Thanksgiving BTW!

[An HI]

Originally Posted by wmisegades

My question would be why you would have more than 1 GFCI on same circuit.

My last 2 inspections had not 2, not 3, not 4 but 5 GFCIs on the same circuit. The bathrooms were connected to the kitchen. I scratch my head a while and thought I would never be able to find the reset button.

Sounds like the homeowner or some other non-professional got the bug for wiring- to be expected.

[An HI]

[QUOTE=rwashington;844599]I apologize but my wording is not very clear. On a 110 outlet you can plug in, let's say, 2 lamp cords. Can one of the two plugs be, let's say, properly wired and one a hot/neutral reverse? I am just talking about one outlet.

It can be physically done but would be a very rare event caused by an inexperienced person trying to do something like having one half of a receptacle switched remotely.

I am essentially asking the same thing for a GFCI. Let's say the top plug will trip the circuit (with a GFCI tester) does that automatically mean the bottom one will too. I am just talking about "within" one outlet.

QUOTE]

Yes, if it's wired correctly internally. You can't split a GFCI receptacle like a regular receptacle.

[Robert Meier]

Originally Posted by rwashington

I apologize but my wording is not very clear. On a 110 outlet you can plug in, let's say, 2 lamp cords. Can one of the two plugs be, let's say, properly wired and one a hot/neutral reverse? I am just talking about one outlet.
Yes, on a standard duplex receptacle where you can break the tabs off and wire each receptacle independently. Not very likely but possible. It could also be possible to have 120 volts on each receptacle and 240 volts between the two receptacles on the same yoke.

I am essentially asking the same thing for a GFCI. Let's say the top plug will trip the circuit (with a GFCI tester) does that automatically mean the bottom one will too. I am just talking about "within" one outlet.

I would say no. I don't recall seeing any GFCI receptacle devices that would allow you to wire each receptacle independently.

Hope that helps to clarify.

Happy Thanksgiving BTW!

Happy Thanksgiving!

[James L. Keilson]

Originally Posted by rwashington

I apologize but my wording is not very clear. On a 110 outlet you can plug in, let's say, 2 lamp cords. Can one of the two plugs be, let's say, properly wired and one a hot/neutral reverse? I am just talking about one outlet.

I am essentially asking the same thing for a GFCI. Let's say the top plug will trip the circuit (with a GFCI tester) does that automatically mean the bottom one will too. I am just talking about "within" one outlet.

Hope that helps to clarify.

Happy Thanksgiving BTW!

Richard, the correct answer is YES. There can be several reasons that the top or bottom half of a duplex receptacle can act differently. It does not matter if it is a AFCI or GFCI protected circuit. A prong, pin or any internal component of the receptacle can go bad, make an improper connection or even be corroded just too name a few. I have been an electrical contractor since the early 80's and have seen it all.

Jim

[James L. Keilson]

Originally Posted by wmisegades

My question would be why you would have more than 1 GFCI on same circuit.

OOPS missed that. There are mant reasons somone would have multiple GFCI's on the same circuit. One example I see all the time on very large houses I inspect is the simple convienience. For example instead of running a bathroom circuit from the panel to the closet bathroom then from there to each bathroom of the house and having just 1 GFCI at the 1st location, people prefer to have the actual Test and Reset buttons at each location so they dont need to run all over the house to reset a tripped GFCI. That is just on reason.

Q: Do you really know what GFI stands for ???


























A: Good Fricken Idea

Jim

[Gary D. Rowden]

Originally Posted by jkeilson

OOPS missed that. There are mant reasons somone would have multiple GFCI's on the same circuit. One example I see all the time on very large houses I inspect is the simple convienience. For example instead of running a bathroom circuit from the panel to the closet bathroom then from there to each bathroom of the house and having just 1 GFCI at the 1st location, people prefer to have the actual Test and Reset buttons at each location so they dont need to run all over the house to reset a tripped GFCI. That is just on reason.

James I stand corrected you are absolutely correct; the use of multiple GFCI outlets on a single dedicated circuit with each GFCI as a standalone outlet is perfectly ok. I don’t see this practice used very often, probably mostly due to cost; generally you only see the first in line protected.

Originally Posted by jkeilson

Q: Do you really know what GFI stands for ???

A GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters) circuit breaker provides protection against overloads, short circuits and ground faults. It detects very low levels of electrical current leaks (ground faults), and acts quickly to shut off power, preventing serious shock.
GFCI receptacle measures the difference in current between the hot and neutral lines using a differential transformer. If there is no outside leakage path, the currents will always be identical, and thus the difference would be exactly zero at all times. GFCI receptacle trips when the difference in current is around 5 ma.

[William T. Misegades]

Originally Posted by jkeilson

OOPS missed that. There are mant reasons somone would have multiple GFCI's on the same circuit. One example I see all the time on very large houses I inspect is the simple convienience. For example instead of running a bathroom circuit from the panel to the closet bathroom then from there to each bathroom of the house and having just 1 GFCI at the 1st location, people prefer to have the actual Test and Reset buttons at each location so they dont need to run all over the house to reset a tripped GFCI. That is just on reason.

When I posted my first comment, both houses with the multitude of GFCI test/rest had a common intrigue . When I tested the receptacles in the bathrooms with the electrical tester, the circuit would not cut off right there. I had to run around the houses to find which rest button to push. There were a couple resets in the kitchens (they were both on the same circuit too). One bathroom would trigger one reset, the other bathroom would trigger the 2nd reset, both kitchen receptacles would trigger each other... When the bathrooms receptacles were tested directly they would trigger right there.
SOOO, I had a good workout and I wrote it up.

Anybody would know why/how this would happen?

[Stephen W. Stanczyk]

Originally Posted by wmisegades

When I posted my first comment, both houses with the multitude of GFCI test/rest had a common intrigue . When I tested the receptacles in the bathrooms with the electrical tester, the circuit would not cut off right there. I had to run around the houses to find which rest button to push. There were a couple resets in the kitchens (they were both on the same circuit too). One bathroom would trigger one reset, the other bathroom would trigger the 2nd reset, both kitchen receptacles would trigger each other... When the bathrooms receptacles were tested directly they would trigger right there.
SOOO, I had a good workout and I wrote it up.

Anybody would know why/how this would happen?

Yep. When the current owners bought the house, it did not have GFCI's installed and the inspector called for them. Instead of hiring an electrician, either the previous did it wrong or the current buyers did it wrong all by themselves.

[William T. Misegades]

Originally Posted by sstanczyk

Yep. When the current owners bought the house, it did not have GFCI's installed and the inspector called for them. Instead of hiring an electrician, either the previous did it wrong or the current buyers did it wrong all by themselves.

Yes, that part is obvious. I'm looking more for the technical reason.