Added Outlets Tripped GFCI

Looks to me like the voltage is low. Im assuming that you live in USA and have standard 120 VAC outlets. But your meter could be a little off to. Measure the voltage at an outlet in the house, see what you get there. I would expect at least 115 -126 volts on an un-loaded circuit. Also, (with my local code anyway), you are limited to 3 additional outlets feeding from a gfci outlet. (4 outlets total). I know you probably cant do much about the way the house is wired, but I would definetly run the garage outlets back to the panel, put it on a 20 amp breaker. I would then make the first outlet in the garage a gfci. I would also get rid of the extension cord and run 12/2 w/ground romex, or if it is exposed to weather, concrete, earth, or sun, 12/2 w/ground type uf. The gfci probably tripped because the saw you were using may have some leakage to ground, or if the gfci is old, the older gfci's were notorious about tripping when feeding a motor such as saw, drill, etc. Thats why appliances such as refrigerators, dishwashers, etc arent required to be gfci protected. (Or at least they werent last time I did any house wiring.) The bonus with having the gfci in the garage, you wont have to walk so far to reset it if your saw trips it agian. :-)

I thought the voltage seemed a little low, but I dismissed it after checking several of the outlets on that circuit and they all tested the same. My multimeter is a cheapo from the local hardware rack and may not be calibrated correctly. The extension cord I mentioned is a 6'

Skenny wrote:

First, please don't top post.

Second, a GFCI will ONLY protect outlets that are DOWNSTREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do not move the outlet. Unsafe, unsafe, unsafe.

Charles Perry P.E.

Eric

Hire a qualified electrician! You are in over your head Harry.

The bathroom receptacle circuit is not permitted to power your garage receptacles per the 2005 NEC (National Electrical Code). That is one reason to rewire from the panel.

If the garage use causes the GFCI to trip, you have an inconvenient reset. That is a second reason to rewire from the panel.

In the garage you'll use devices that draw heavy current on startup, so it is preferable to have them on their own branch circuit - a third reason to rewire from the panel.

Ed

ehsjr wrote in news:Xiivg.480$ve.399@trndny06:

Ed, Not trying to be a smart-ass here, so please don't take it that way. But, as a point, unless the house was built within the last year, AND the community it was built in has adopted the 2005 NEC, it does not have to meet that code unless it's modified and the 2005 is adopted. The house may have been built in 1970, and fully complies with the NEC in effect of that era.

I will agree though, there should be nothing on the GFCI in a bathroom except the bathroom outlets. I have never put anything except the one or two bathroom outlets on a GFCI in that room for years, there is just too much load, what with curling irons, blow dryers, hot rollers, and the other variety of appliances in very likely simultaneous use in the bathroom.

Not trying to be smart a either but when I wired houses in the 70's and 80's it was common practice to put outside receptacles on the bathroom gfci circuit. But the maximum number of outlets on a GFCI was 4, including the GFCI receptacle. I.E. in a house with one bathroom, it was perfectly ok to put the gfci outlet in the bathroom, then feed two outside receptacles. But I didnt like doing that, because if you are using an electric trimmer or whatever outside and it trips the GFCI, then you have to track all the way through the house to the bathroom to reset it. I would point this out to the customer and let them decide wheter or not to spend the extra bucks to put another GFCI circuit to the outside receptacles. I can not remember it ever being ok to put garage outlets on the bathroom GFCI though. But I think it was only 10-20 years ago that they required gfci in garage. Now it is required in garage and kitchens. Or anywhere near wet locations. (Excluding heavy appliances such as washers, refrigs, etc.). But back to the OP, I would install a new romex run back to the panel, and make the first outlet in the garage GFCI. But thats just me, I place personal safety way above a few extra bucks.

No - you are definitely not being a smart ass - no problem there. Your point is correct for existing wiring - it has to comply with the code in place at the time it was installed. Where I see the problem is that he added outlets - and I don't think that he can do that and have a previous code apply to the new wiring. I believe that whatever addition/modification he makes to existing wiring must comply with the code in place today - even something a simple as extending the existing circuit to a couple of new outlets.

Yup. I wouldn't consider sharing a 20 amp line between two bathrooms. A bathroom and a 1/2 bath, perhaps. But then you get the case where one teenaged daughter uses the 1/2 bath & mirror to dry her hair, while the other uses the regular bathroom to dry her hair ...

Ed