House has 9 duplex receptacles protected by one GFCI outlet (8+1 GFCI) 9 total, electrictian friend says he believes limit is 4, can anyone verify-Super Joe, Paul, Speedy Pete, Greg, ??? or any other electrictians
thanks in advance
Eric,
I think you will be fine with 9, the best way to know is to check with the manufacturer but I would not worry to much about that. The good point is they atleast have a GFCI at all…
Now the last time i checked…and is really not a NEC thing unless the Manufacturer lists how many you can have on a circuit and you exceed it…then WHAMO you did not follow the manufacturers requirements…
With that said…I am going to go pull a new one out of the truck and see what it says…
YEP as I suspected…no reference to this in the instructions or warranty…I think it possibly could have been an issue in the OLD GFCI days…not I dont think new ones you have to worry…BTW the one I have is by COOPER…they all should be about the same so I would not worry about the 9 duplexes on it.
thanks Paul, found one reference to 4 limit, it is a local code, will call county tomorrow to verify that it is okay here.
Eric
Ahhh…now could be a local thing…but again would have to be since the NEC and Manufacturer ( IN the case of COOPER) at least has no problem with it.
That would be like the local AHJ saying you can only have 8 items on a 15A circuit…they can’t…they should not…BUT guess they COULD if they wanted too…but again all depends on how BAD you want to FIGHT the cause…
Pretty much agree across the board.
There is NO NEC restrictions and only sporadic local ammendments I have heard of.
There ARE areas that do have legal restrictions on number of receptacles on a circuit. Can’t remember where right now. So I assume someone, somewhere has restrictions on GFI downstream receptacles.
Most do not though.
Speedy…the restriction on number of receptacles usually falls under the commerical where they have a limit to 180VA per receptacle strap… which in itself will be very limiting…
Actually that’s not what I mean. I have heard of some areas having local (residential) codes restricting the number of receptacles on a circuit.
Ahhh…gotcha…not sure…I don’t really see it in our area because they figure they can’t enforce it…If they TOLD me how many I had to have I would simply make ONE call to the DPOR and cause a STINK…it should be basic common sense practice to know the limitations of the circuit in normal respects…BUT i most certainly see where you are coming from with it…no doubt.
I guess I won’t sweat it,appreciate the replies, on a side note, had a call about a bad A/C unit, called my A/C buddy, he brings a ladder tall enough to get to two story roof, disconnect had blown fuse, box was propped open, two wasp nests below disconnect. After obtaining some info we figured out the HOA sent someone up to kill the wasps, he apparently did not think twice about spraying canned liquid into electrical equiptment.
Eric
lol…yeah we like to give the new “HELPERS” a can of WD40 and tell them to go LUBE the fuses all the time…
the limit of four does apply if this circuit supplies kitchen contertop small appliance receptacles
According to whom??? Not the NEC.
Please show SUPPORT for that information…NEC is the adopted standard but local and building codes could alter…HOWEVER I know the IRC does not attempt to alter it…so…may I ask you what document gives you this information?
I will have to defer to the men with up to date code info at hand as I have not had the nec book since mid 90’s.
The four recept limit for small appliance loads (kitchen,dining and pantry) has been a requirement in the three jurisdictions I work in since I started wiring in the early eighties and until today I believed it had some basis in the nec. Evidently I am wrong on this point. I do, however see some rationale for the limit as the countertop has some high wattage appliances- often working- simultaneously and this could help to reduce overcurrent incidences.
Another local requirement of these small appliance branch circuits is that they serve no outlets other than the kitchen/dining/pantry small appliance receptacles (exception for a clock and gas fired range.) Is that in the nec or is it another anomaly of the local code?
I offer an apology for providing inaccurate information.
That is true. Pretty much all receptacles in all these areas are part of the small appliance branch circuits.
That is correct…and no apology is needed…thats what we are here for…to decipher the FACT from FICTION…