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Hi
I needed to put in two GFCs in the kitchen to replace non-compliant outlets. One went in fine, with the load and line very straight forward. The second one has me puzzled.
The lower outlet had just one live (black) and no white neutral. The upper had both black and white (as normal). The ground was also present as normal.
So why does one outlet only have a black and no white wire?
At first I assumed it was a load wire and hooked it up that way to the GFC, with the other black and white pair as line. But nothing came through the GFC, and it didn't light up when tested and reset. So I tried it the other way round..... and nothing again.
What am I doing wrong? Or has someone done a weird wiring job here in the past......
Hi
I needed to put in two GFCs in the kitchen to replace non-compliant outlets. One went in fine, with the load and line very straight forward. The second one has me puzzled.
The lower outlet had just one live (black) and no white neutral. The upper had both black and white (as normal). The ground was also present as normal.
So why does one outlet only have a black and no white wire?
At first I assumed it was a load wire and hooked it up that way to the GFC, with the other black and white pair as line. But nothing came through the GFC, and it didn't light up when tested and reset. So I tried it the other way round..... and nothing again.
What am I doing wrong? Or has someone done a weird wiring job here in the past......
Thanks
Check to see if the jumper tab is broken out between the "black" terminals on the back of the original outlet. The outlet could have originally been "split wired" with one outlet on constant from one circuit and the other from a switch or a different circuit from the panel and just shared the "white" terminal between them going back to the panel.
The added black one is to continue on to other non-GFCI plugs, and yet be protected by the GFCI. The grounded (white) conductor is not allowed to go through a device and is therefore to be "made up" so that it is continuous.
This is sure to draw angry responses from those with god like complexes, but it is the intended design.
Check to see if the jumper tab is broken out between the "black" terminals on the back of the original outlet. The outlet could have originally been "split wired" with one outlet on constant from one circuit and the other from a switch or a different circuit from the panel and just shared the "white" terminal between them going back to the panel.
The perplexing part- why would there be a "switched" recepticle in a kitchen (if in-fact the tab has been broken)?
A gfci has no breakable tabs like a standard duplex receptacle to isolate each individual outlet to a separate circuit. The gfci is specific to line (incoming hot) and load (out going to supply other receptacles on same circuit). It should have line for hot and grounded, and same for outgoing load.
A gfci has no breakable tabs like a standard duplex receptacle to isolate each individual outlet to a separate circuit. The gfci is specific to line (incoming hot) and load (out going to supply other receptacles on same circuit). It should have line for hot and grounded, and same for outgoing load.
Read the OP's post again. We're referring to the ORIGINAL recepticle- not the GFCI.
Hi
I needed to put in two GFCs in the kitchen to replace non-compliant outlets. One went in fine, with the load and line very straight forward. The second one has me puzzled.
The lower outlet had just one live (black) and no white neutral. The upper had both black and white (as normal). The ground was also present as normal.
So why does one outlet only have a black and no white wire?
At first I assumed it was a load wire and hooked it up that way to the GFC, with the other black and white pair as line. But nothing came through the GFC, and it didn't light up when tested and reset. So I tried it the other way round..... and nothing again.
What am I doing wrong? Or has someone done a weird wiring job here in the past......
Thanks
Is someone trying to bridge a hot wire from one outlet to another? You can always turn off everything in the house except for that circuit see what stays hot. You can also use a circuit tracker if you have one. The only time when you have a single white and black is if you are at the end of your circuit. The single black is someone sending the hot leg somewhere. Could be a close by outlet where the hot leg went bad ( being at the end of that other specific circuit) between that last and next to last outlet on another circuit and someone took a hot leg to connect it to that last outlet that possibly went bad
Is the black Wire in a sheath or is it just a black wire THHN? Does it look original to the house or added on?
Last edited by Electrician4you; 01-21-2014 at 05:42 PM..
Check to see if the jumper tab is broken out between the "black" terminals on the back of the original outlet. The outlet could have originally been "split wired" with one outlet on constant from one circuit and the other from a switch or a different circuit from the panel and just shared the "white" terminal between them going back to the panel.
Would it be wrong to share a neutral at the outlet , for two different circuits?
Any chance this outlet was under the sink for a disposer, do you have any switches that you have no idea what they are for?
Also if the two outlets are in series , couldn't the OP use one GFCI to protect both outlet or is that bad practice?
Learn about electrical wiring before working on it. Best to call an electrician if you don't understand what an MWBC is! (Or you may electrocute yourself!)
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