wiring question?

Question

Do u hook green wires to green screws on new plugs wen ur using PLASTIC boxes?
IM putting 4 plugs across my kitchen counter top--coming off a gfci plug-20amp-new service drop--rewiring some of my house--but im using plastic boxes so do u jus wirenut the grounds or pigtail em n hook up 2 all green screws on plugs---tyvm

Answer 1

The NEC does not require a GFCI to be on its own circuit. Why else would it have feed through lugs. It is perfectly acceptable to have one GFCI and feed receptacles downstream of it and have them be GFCI protected.

For dwellings (houses, hotels, condos etc) the NEC does NOT address the number of receptacles per circuit. For other establishments the NEC requires you to calculate at 180 VA (volt-amps) per receptacle no matter if their is one or 2 receptacles on one yoke. For dwellings the receptacle load is included with the general lighting load calculations. So for a dwelling unit you can put 5 or 25 receptacles on one circuit and still be 100% code legal. This is because a dwelling isn't going to load a receptacle circuit nearly as much as another establishment would. I almost guarantee you can run your entire homes general purpose 120V loads on one or possibly two circuits!

Using the 180VA guideline for nondwelling units with general purpose (noncontinuous loaded) receptacles you can put 13 receptacles on a 20A circuit and 10 receptacles on a 15A circuit.

There are many types of plastic boxes. Most that I know of are meant for permanent installation. Why else would manufacturers make an "old work" box with the flip up ears for installation if you had to remove it later.

madmarl329 the NEC is right at 711 pages and you need to get in them deep. There wasn't a bit of fact in your answer!

Answer 2

There is no advantage to a metal box.

Ground protection is only available to a appliance if you connect it to the outlet's ground connection

Yes, connect your ground wires to the outlet's ground screw, usually colored green. If you need to join two wires in the box, and connect to the outlet, there is a special wire nut for ground wires, it has a hole at the end. This allows you to pigtail two wires together and leaving one wire long to allow you to connect to the plug. This wire you pass through the hole in the end of the wire nut. You wrap the shorter wire around it and use the wire nut to secure it.

Black wire goes to the darker of the terminals, this is the terminal that goes to the narrow slot on the outlet. White wire goes to the lighter colored screw, this is connected to the wide slot on the outlet.

Thats great that you are rewiring your kitchen. If you can and it's not too late, consider running your fridge on it's own circuit. This way, if a breaker is ever blown, your fridge will still be on. Just a thought.

enjoy,
John

Answer 3

First off you do not break ground wires for a reason. No splicing ground wires. What you have to do is run enough down that you can loop it around the grounding lug. If you have to break a ground to make splices the ground either needs to be soldered not wire nutted or the splice made through the grounding lug on the junction box not just wire nutted together. Too much danger of a loose ground by wire nutting them together.

Number two in a lot of Locations the local codes do not allow for piggy backing GFCI plugs like that. They require individual GFCI receptacles. You will need to check on that as well.

Also in a lot of locations their codes do not permit the use of a GFCI circuit breaker in place of separate GFCI receptacles.

In a lot of locations the local codes require: For small appliance loads no more than two loads per circuit and a duplex plug is considered as two outlets not one. That means no more than one duplex plug per circuit.

The diversity of load clause only applies to general lighting loads not small appliance loads. There is one exception to the clause. You can wire in a dedicated clock circuit for a wall clock.
And in older residences you might find that your outside plugs and garage plugs on the same circiuts as you small appliance circuit breaker. The reason for that is it was commonly felt at the time; you would not be in the kitchen cooking while out in the yard working.
There is also an exception for using a GFCI circuit breaker for over head exhaust fans and lights in bathrooms instead of GFCI plugs.
Maybe that will help a little and keep you out of Dutch with the inspectors.
Me personally when wiring my homes I use GFCI plugs and back them up with GFCI circuits breakers at the panel box. It might be over kill but I get enough nasty surprises at work when troubleshooting contril panels with power coming in from everywhere and the prints are useless.because they have been modified so much.

Answer 4

You must hook the ground to each ground screw. Pig tail the grounds to the screws. Don't listen to the guy who said the gfci's must be on separate circuits. You are doing fine. Plastic boxes are fine as well that's new construction and remodel work boxes. 99.99% of all new homes use plastic boxes so dont worry.

Answer 5

Run all plugs through the GFCI, pigtail the ground but wire all outlet grounds. plastic boxes are fine run frig on its own line Good luck!

Answer 6

not to rain on your parade but doesn't NEC require each GFCI to be on its own dedicated leg? That is how you can ensure that each GFCI is responsive to do its intended purpose.
5 boxes sounds like 15 or so points, I thought NEC said 8 to a line. Again I am not sure, NEC book is 1000+ pages, can't know it all.


Plastic boxes are called Temporary Work Boxes for a reason. I am guessing because they are intended to be temporary. Again I am sorry.

This is why NEC was created to keep people from burning down houses. I am really sorry to be a bummer.

Not that you can not do the work, someone needs to tell you how. Ask Home Depot, Lowes they love to know it all.

NEC= national electrical code

Answer 7

It is always a good idea to ground the plug as well as the plug. I always do, and I use metal boxes at work almost exclusively. Grounding both the box and the plug adds an extra level of safety.

Answer 8

Its always a good idea to pigtail or daisy chain the grounds together using wire nuts. Using the poly boxes have no source to make your connection, besides screws tend to get loose with time and using wired nuts make it an easier connecton.

Answer 9

ALWAYS hook the ground wire to the plug. This is the only way you can make your plug and whatever you plug into it protected by a ground.

Answer 10

why don't you go to this site and then those other answers won't help you burn down the house!