What is a GFCI outlet? Do I need an electrician to install a GFCI it or can I just do a DIY job?
Tough question to answer about the DIY aspect...What is a GFCI outlet? Do I need an electrician to install a GFCI it or can I just do a DIY job?
Can you tell a black wire from a white wire from a ground wire?
If you're asking these types of questions, you should go with a licensed electrician.What is a GFCI outlet? Do I need an electrician to install a GFCI it or can I just do a DIY job?
If you are the homeowner and do not live in a POLICE STATE you are generally allowed to do your own electrical repairs. And it is far better, if you know what you are doing, to avoid the involvement of local inspectors, who typically are those individuals who were unable to earn a living in a business and instead went to work for the municipal government.In some jurisdictions, you need an electrical permit to install (or change) a GFCI. Or, you need a licensed electrician to do the work.
In other areas, one is allowed to replace defective GFCI without permits, but not make a new installation.
Thus, the rules vary a lot. Check with your local building permit authority and ask if you need any permits for this work.
As others point out, if you are not sure, get a professional to do it. Doing something wrong yourself can be dangerous or even cause a fire. In some cases, a DIY electrical job without permits may void your house insurance if it burns down. Insurance companies look for any excuse not to pay out....
I find it useful in cases where powered outside yard tools are used, wiring in a string fashion in different points in my yard, I can go from one to the other without using a huge extension cord length.There is usually another set of terminals and I recommend NEVER connecting anything to them. GFCI outlets are now cheap enough to install a separate one at each outlet where protection is required. connecting them in a string is a poor choice.
The problem is that when the GFCI trips and other outlets switch off it may not be obvious until the refrigerator has warmed up and the food has spoiled. AND, I serviced a rental property where the GFCI for an outside outlet had tripped and the result was that a number of inside lights stopped working. That took a bit of sleuthing to find the culprit. And the nastiest of all was where the GFCI for an electrical heating tape tripped and so the pipe outside froze and burst.I find it useful in cases where powered outside yard tools are used, wiring in a string fashion in different points in my yard, I can go from one to the other without using a huge extension cord length.
All daisy chained off the first.
Really no different than one fitted in a breaker panel that supplies a few outlets..
Max.
My point was there are practical exceptions. refrigerators are different.The problem is that when the GFCI trips and other outlets switch off it may not be obvious until the refrigerator has warmed up and the food has spoiled.
But the one with the refrigerator was the stupidest one.
Thus my suggestion of never using those terminals.
Also washroom/bathrooms and in a Kitchen if within 6ft of a source of water, (Sink etc).Typical GFI requirements are outlets located Outside, inside enclosed Garage (gas fumes) or within 6' of a water spigot. 40 years ago it was a panel breaker GFI which I would not recommend, now it is the GFCI receptacle itself.
OP hasn´t indulged us yet to where he is living. In EU by the latest revision of the standard, GFI protection (now usually referred to as RCD), in residential areas has to be on all outlets <32A accesible by laymen (except dedicated outlets like a fridge), and all light fixtures, and very much preferably not the same single RCD for everything.Typical GFI requirements are outlets located Outside, inside enclosed Garage (gas fumes) or within 6' of a water spigot. 40 years ago it was a panel breaker GFI which I would not recommend, now it is the GFCI receptacle itself.