Kitchen light on Exterior GFCI??

[bthompson1 (Bruce Thompson, TREC# 9199)]

I’m digging through IRC looking for answers, looking for peace of mind… Hard to find both:D .

The kitchen light is wired to the same circuit as the garage GFCI receptacles. Is this OK? Haven’t run into this before and doesn’t seem like a good idea.

I figure the electrician did it so the homeowner would know if their garage receptacle tripped.?!?!???

Thanks
Bruce

[Speedy_Petey]

Nothing against it code wise. I can’t really think how it could be a defect either.

Obviously the opposite is not true. You cannot have kitchen receptacles on with lighting.

[belliott (Bob Elliott, 450.0002662)]

I t is not uncommon.
Hope you did not have a hard time finding the reset.

[bthompson1 (Bruce Thompson, TREC# 9199)]

@Speedy Petey

Nothing against it code wise. I can’t really think how it could be a defect either.

Obviously the opposite is not true. You cannot have kitchen receptacles on with lighting.

Thank you. I appreciate the info.

[bthompson1 (Bruce Thompson, TREC# 9199)]

@relliott

I t is not uncommon.
Hope you did not have a hard time finding the reset.

The homeowner was in the kitchen when I zapped it with my Suretest. She came outside to ask what I had done.

[rmaday (Rick Maday)]

Husband outside working with various power tools while having a “soda pop” or two, trips GFCI while wife is getting the pasta noodles off the stove, lights go out, she gets scared and drops the pot scalding herself then falls into stove and sauce ends up burning her head, torso, arms (lets not even think about the anti-tip brackets ).

hmmm…

[rmaday (Rick Maday)]

@Speedy Petey

Obviously the opposite is not true. You cannot have kitchen receptacles on with lighting.

What is the difference which GFCI turns out the lights?

[bthompson1 (Bruce Thompson, TREC# 9199)]

@rmaday

Husband outside working with various power tools while having a “soda pop” or two, trips GFCI while wife is getting the pasta noodles off the stove, lights go out, she gets scared and drops the pot scalding herself then falls into stove and sauce ends up burning her head, torso, arms (lets not even think about the anti-tip brackets ).

hmmm…

Exactly! Cover all bases.

[belliott (Bob Elliott, 450.0002662)]

I never needed it but I have one of those signal tracers for finding circuit breakers.
I imagine that could be used to trace which reset controls something like a garage recepticle.

[Speedy_Petey]

@rmaday

What is the difference which GFCI turns out the lights?

It’s been almost forever that you cannot mix kitchen area receptacles with lighting or other rooms.

It has nothing to do with GFIs.

[Speedy_Petey]

Also, in the OP Bruce states that the lights share the circuit with the garage GFIs.
Now we see the lights are on the load side of said GFIs. That is a bit different.
I still see no safety defect, but I would recommend mentioning it as a convenience/annoyance issue.

[rmaday (Rick Maday)]

@Speedy Petey

It’s been almost forever that you cannot mix kitchen area receptacles with lighting or other rooms.

It has nothing to do with GFIs.

Thanks for the clarification.

I have a follow up question.
What is special about kitchen area receptacles that cannot be mixed with lighting or other rooms? As opposed to those in a garage or bathroom?

[Speedy_Petey]

I guess the code making panels have for years considered that very high draw appliances will typcailly be used in these areas.
This is my best assumption.

[rmaday (Rick Maday)]

Thanks for the quick reply.