Calling all residential electricians

   / Calling all residential electricians #1  

Pixguy

Elite Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
3,680
Location
By the lake in NH & FL
Tractor
2011 MF 2410 TLB
Hi all, I'm looking to add an outlet to the double switch plate I have in this toilet room so my wife can get in a nightlight. I knew I'm supposed to use a gfci outlet in a wet area so instead of adding in an old construction outlet below, I decided to put in the combo switch/outlet shown below. There's two sets of wires coming into the box, I don't have my volt meter here in Florida and the wires are 14/3 and a 14/2. It appears obvious to me that the 14/2 wire is power coming in and the 14/3 goes up to the light/fan. I followed the instructions but the gfi pops each time I turn power in.
What am I doing wrong?

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   / Calling all residential electricians #2  
That's not a 3-way switch, and the presence of a red wire (the 14/3) indicates it may well be a 3-way circuit. Is there another switch controlling that light?

Also you really don't need a GFCI there...

My $0.02
 
   / Calling all residential electricians #4  
Also, looking at that gfci. I think you need to power the fan switch from the load side of the gfci, not the line side. Ive seen gfci issues before where you split off a line to the device that receives its neutral from a gfci.
 
   / Calling all residential electricians
  • Thread Starter
#5  
That's not a 3-way switch, and the presence of a red wire (the 14/3) indicates it may well be a 3-way circuit. Is there another switch controlling that light?

Also you really don't need a GFCI there...

My $0.02
The 3 wires lead up to the fan/light
 
   / Calling all residential electricians
  • Thread Starter
#7  
Also, looking at that gfci. I think you need to power the fan switch from the load side of the gfci, not the line side. Ive seen gfci issues before where you split off a line to the device that receives its neutral from a gfci.
Please explain to me a bit more
 
   / Calling all residential electricians #8  
 
   / Calling all residential electricians #10  
i think you may sharing the neutral with both the light, gfci and fan but not having all the power going through the gfci. My money would be to splice the 2 whites together with a tail to the line side of the GFCI plug. Then the fan and light are not on the GFCI, only the plug.
 

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