Common practice?

[Nature_Photog]

In an approximately 20 year old home 3 outdoor outlets and 2 bathroom outlets are wired to a single GFCI outlet in another bathroom.

Is/was this standard practice?

Thanks,

---Mike

[jbfan]

In an approximately 20 year old home 3 outdoor outlets and 2 bathroom outlets are wired to a single GFCI outlet in another bathroom.

Is/was this standard practice?

Thanks,

---Mike

For a house that old it is.

[Nature_Photog]

Thanks for the quick reply jbfan.

Were GFCI outlets much more expensive than today to allow for the additional wire and labor back then?

---Mike

[QROKING]

Yeah, back then wire was cheap and GFCI's were expensive. I have seen outdoor outlets on bath GFCI's many times. New code disallows bath circuits to be common with other rooms or hallways.

[Alphacowboy]

Yup, very common in 70-80s houses.

The outlet where the GFI outlet is located is where the power comes in, then feeds the rest of the houses GFI protected recepticals. Shut off the breaker at the panel for that outlet, and pull it out, and see what you got. Many times I have seen all the GFI branches come to that one box. Makes it very easy to seperate the branches to a seperate curcuit. If accessable from the attic or basement, you can add an additional line to that box for the panel, and isolate the out door oulets from the bathrooms. But, you will need to replace the regular outlets with GFI recepticals. Another trick I have seen some people do is to disconnect the branch curcuits from the Load side, and wire them as hot, then replace all the outlets with GFI recepticals, so that if you over load the GFI receptical in one bathroom, it only pops that local outlet. Saves from running to the location of the GFI receptical to reset it. IE, outside using a power tool, and it pops the breaker in the upstairs bath. That can be a real pain. I do however do not know if this is a legal way as far as code goes, but I have seen it done.

[Nature_Photog]

I appreciate your taking time for such a detailed response Alpha....

The bathroom GFCI outlet only has the feed and one Romex on the load side, so apparently the other 5 outlets are connected at a junction box, probably in the attic buried under mounds of insulation.

This hasn't been an issue for us but I thought it a strange arrangement having lived in newer houses with numerous GFCIs.

Thanks again,

----Mike

[Nature_Photog]

Yeah, back then wire was cheap and GFCI's were expensive. I have seen outdoor outlets on bath GFCI's many times. New code disallows bath circuits to be common with other rooms or hallways.

Copper wire gets lots more costly while GFI outlets become cheaper. Must be that 'balance of dollars' the economics guys are always talking about. --GRIN--

Thanks for the reply QROKING

---Mike