Marvelous Gfci Breaker For Ungrounded Outlets

If money is an issue and you only need to protect a single location a gfci outlet might a better choice than a gfci breaker.

Gfci breaker for ungrounded outlets. Disconnect the hot wire which is black from the existing outlet and connect it to the brass line terminal on the gfci. To replace your two prong outlet with a gfci start by turning off the breaker controlling the outlet circuit and unscrewing the outlet from the electrical box. Technically all un grounded outlets that are protected with gfci are supposed to be labeled gfci protected no equipment ground gfci outlets will usually come with a little sheet of adhesive labels in the box for this purpose.

However in the case where the gfci breaker would trip off it would be less. In fact that is one of the ways allowed to replace ungrounded receptacles with grounding style the the ground pin is left unconnected. A gfci outlet or breaker can detect when more current is coming in on the hot wire than is exiting on the neutral wire and will shut off the circuit quickly before the current can stray to alternate paths.

Replacing ungrounded 2 prong outlets with a gfci outlet an old style non grounded outlet may be replaced with a gfci outlet and the ground fault protection circuitry and capabilities will still work. A gfci breaker might cost you 40 or 50 versus 4 to 6 for a standard breaker. Builder his inspector said that gfci s are acceptable for ungrounded outlets which i agree that they can be used for circuits down line no problem there and they they do protect any device plugged into them which i highly disagree.

Can a gfci circuit breaker take the place of a gfci outlet. Yes you can put gfci s on ungrounded wiring. A gfci protection device operates on the principle of monitoring the current imbalance between the ungrounded hot and grounded neutral conductors.

A gfci receptacle often costs around 15. When replacing a 2 wire outlet with a gfci outlet the outlet must be labeled indicating that there is no ground available. You can swap out your standard outlet for a gfci outlet on any ungrounded outlets to provide protection from shocks and surges.

Lanny from the information you have provided yes a gfci circuit breaker can be used as the ground fault protection device and both methods will satisfy the nec code requirement for gfci protection nec article 210 8. If you do that. This lets other folks understand what is happening behind the walls in the future.