What Are They and Why Are They Important?
GFCI stands for “ground fault circuit interrupter.” They’re also referred to GFIs (ground fault interrupters) and RCDs (residual current devices). There are two main types of GCFIs—receptacles or outlets and circuit breakers in your electrical panels. They are also placed on appliance or extension cords and on newer hairdryers. For this article, we will be focusing on GFCI outlets, their importance, how they work, and how to replace one, if needed. The National Electric Code (NEC) requires these outlets to be installed anywhere that is wet or damp—kitchens, bathrooms, laundry rooms, workshops, garages, and even outside. The only exceptions to this rule are motor driven machines such as washers or driers. These outlets are important because they prevent electrical shock and keep other harmful things from happening.
How Do They Work?
The easiest way to explain this is to look at an outlet. Any standard outlet will have two vertical holes at the top with one semi-round one near the bottom. Each of these holes is connected to a certain wire. The left rectangular one is connected to a white neutral wire while the right one is connected to a black “hot” wire, meaning it carries the electrical current to the outlet. The one at the bottom of the outlet is called the ground and is attached to the wires that are, as you may guess, connected to the ground. The electrical current runs from hot to neutral. However, sometimes the electrical current may leak and/or runs through an appliance, water, a human body, or to the ground instead of neutral. When this happens, the GFCI outlet recognizes an imbalance because not all the power is going from the hot to neutral and trips the circuit, shutting off the outlet. This helps keep the electricity from flowing where it shouldn’t and you from getting shocked. You can quickly remedy this problem by pushing in the red “reset” button to restart the outlet. However, if the current keeps getting interrupted, the GFCI will keep shutting off and you’ll have to keep reseting it. In this case, identify what the problem is. Sometimes it may also be that you need to replace the outlet. The next section will help you with that.
How To Replace a GFCI Outlet
- Gather the supplies you’ll need—a new GFCI outlet, an insulated screwdriver, an outlet tester, non-contact tester, and electrical pliers—don’t worry, you can get all those for pretty cheap.
- Go to your electrical panel and turn off the circuit to that outlet. Be careful with this as there might be other switches in your house you’ll need to turn off. You also may need to check several times you turned everything off or flipped the correct switch. If you’re scared of getting shocked, you can wear rubber gloves as well to prevent it.
- Unscrew the face plate to the outlet and place it on the counter. (Keep the screws in their holes face up to keep track of them.)
- Use the non-contact tester to check to see if the wires are still warm. If they have quite a bit of voltage, you’re going to want to check to be sure everything is turned off properly.
- If there are metal tabs on the new outlet where there aren’t on the old one, use the electrician’s pliers to remove them (gently bend them back and forth until they come off; these tabs are by the holes the screws go into).
- When you look at the back of the new outlet, you’ll see that there are two different sections—line and load. The line is the electricity coming in and the load is the power of what’s plugged in and the current running to the other outlets. In each area, there is a white (neutral) and black (hot) wire. Remove each of the wires in the “line” area by unscrewing them slightly and placing the colors in their correct slots in the new outlet and screwing it up tight again. Repeat for the “load” area. Once you’re done with this, you’ll want to take the ground wire out at the bottom of the outlet and place it in the new one the same way.
- Now that all the wires are secured in the new outlet, carefully push it all back in and screw it in so that it’s almost flush with the wall. Put the wall plate back on to finish.
- Turn the power on again. Get a circuit tester and plug it into the new receptacle. You should see the two amber lights glow but not the red one. Push the test button. When you do this, the lights should go out on the tester. Press in the reset button and the lights should come back on again. If everything goes as explained above, you’ve properly installed the outlet and you’re finished.