GFCI Question

[upstatemike]

I have 2 plugs in a kitchen that are fed separately from the basement so I am putting a GFCI in each location. They do not feed any downstream plugs but one feeds power to the range hood and the other feeds the light switches.

Should these "non-plug" downstream devices be connected to the protected side of the GFCI or is that feed-through only for downstream outlets? I'm thinking they should stay on the unprotected side since they are not required to be GFCI protected according to local code.

 

[WayneW]

Is there any downside to having a light or device on a GFCI circuit that isn't required to be protected? Assuming that loads are not extreme and the GFCI was available, what would it hurt?

 

[Digger]

For a range hood I would have it downstreamed. If for any reason the ground was to fail and the hood becomes live at least teh GFCI would protect the person touching it possibly with wet hands or standing on a wet floor.

For the lights you may wish not to downstream it since the lights would go off if the GFCI tripped. I admit that I do downstream my lights and at times its a pain and at times its great like if you have to replace a defective Insteon switch you can trip the GFCI instead of walking to the CB Panel.

Did I just dis someone????

 

[upstatemike]

Sounds reasonable. I'll downstream them and see what happens. I can always change it if it turns out to be a problem.

 

[liftn]

How many lights are you downstreaming and what is the wattage?? You should be on a 20 amp circuit in the kitchen, if you only have 5 or 6 lights off it you should be fine. Some kitchen appliances draw a lot of power. More than 5 or 6 lights, you might want to think about splitting them. O you could run the power directly to the lights and fan, and run the plugs on one line.

 

[upstatemike]

I think I am fine on lights (mainly fluorescents). I can't change the wiring layout because we are not going inside the walls. I just had to decide how to do the wiring at the GFCI devices.