Choose the best answer:
1. Which of these locations associated with a single-family house requires GFCI protection for receptacle outlets?
a. A duplex receptacle for a freezer in the garage
b. A first floor study in a detached accessory building
c. A bedroom on the basement level
d. None of the above
e. More than one of the above
2. Which of the following rooftop receptacles requires GFCI protection?
a. One for deicing cable
b. One 20 ft from a ventilating fan
c. A 20A 208V 3-phase for a motor
d. None of the above
e. More than one of the above
3. With two bathrooms sharing common circuits, how do you arrange GFCI protection for the shower vent fan?
a. Load side of bathroom receptacle
b. GFCI protects entire lighting circuit.
c. Use a “master-trip” GFCI device (no receptacle slots) in the bathroom at the light switch location.
d. Two of the above
e. All of the above
4. Eventually, based on the 1999 NEC, which of the following dwelling-unit outlets will need AFCI protection?
a. Living room receptacle
b. Bedroom receptacle
c. Bedroom light
d. None of the above
e. Two of the above
5. Which of these receptacles in a basement crawl space for a central vacuum cleaner requires GFCI protection?
a. A service receptacle for a store
b. A single receptacle for a house
c. A duplex receptacle for a house
d. Two of the above
e. All of the above
6. Suppose you need to replace a 125V 15A receptacle in a dwelling unit bathroom, installed in 1933 on a knob-and-tube wiring system. The house still uses original 8-position plug-fuse panel, and the owners can’t afford any changes to their distribution or additional openings. Assume the 15A circuit is grandfathered and need not be changed to 20A. What are your options?
a. Use a nongrounding duplex receptacle.
b. Use a conventional GFCI receptacle marked “No Equipment Ground.”
c. Use a conventional duplex receptacle grounded to a water pipe in basement where it comes into the house.
d. More than one of the above
e. None of the above
Answers and Discussion
1. a, Sec. 210-8(a)(2). The freezer outlet counts because one half of the duplex receptacle is vacant and likely to be used for other than its dedicated purpose. That’s why the exception requires each of its uses to have only a single contact point (receptacle). The study and bedroom are finished, habitable spaces, and not subject to GFCI requirements.
2. b, Sec. 210-8(a)(3) and -8(b)(2). The deicing cables only require the protection specified in Art. 426. In the case of resistance cables (the usual), you’ll need GFPE, typically set between 30mA and 50mA. But that isn’t the same thing as GFCI. The service receptacle for the fan requires protection at either a house [8(a)(3)] or commercial occupancy [8(b)(2)]. The motor receptacle doesn’t qualify under either subsection, since it’s a 3-phase load.
3. d, Sec. 210-11(c)(3). Since the bathroom receptacle circuit goes to more than one bathroom, the new exception doesn’t apply. You could arrange GFCI protection for the lighting branch circuit with a GFCI circuit breaker, or you could use one of the “master-trip” GFCI devices connected to the lighting circuit. Such a device avoids creating a new receptacle outlet, which would otherwise run afoul of the same issue that invalidated response “a.”
4. b, Sec. 210-12(b). Arc-fault circuit interrupters, effective as of Jan. 1, 2002, must protect bedroom receptacles in dwelling units. The rule stops there, for now, and doesn’t reach other rooms, or other types of outlets.
5. d, Sec. 210-8(a)(4). All dwelling unit crawl-space receptacles at or below grade must be protected, even if they are single and have a dedicated purpose. In this sense, they differ from similar receptacles in basements. Prior to this section being reorganized in the 1996 NEC, crawl spaces and basements were grouped together; now they are separated, and the exceptions only apply in a full basement. Although this appears to have been unsubstantiated and inadvertent, the present text is clear. The panel rejected a proposal to allow sump pumps without GFCI protection in these areas in the 1999 cycle.
6. 6. b, Sec. 210-7(d). Although GFCI requirements weren’t in the Code when the receptacle was installed originally, the location is one where Sec. 210-8(a)(1) now requires GFCI protection. Therefore, the replacement must have this protection. Since GFCI circuit breakers and additional openings for feed-through GFCI devices without receptacle slots have been ruled out for design reasons, and since nongrounding GFCI receptacles aren’t being manufactured, the other two options can’t be used here.
