Step by step photos of new garage

[EddieWalker]

What if you were washing your car on the driveway with the garage door open and water flowd into the garage and found a extension cord that rodents had eaten the insulation on.

Hi Gemini,

You bring up a very good point. The "what if" scenerios are all possible and can be deadly. There is no end to them and we all have to decide to what point they are likely to happen and how to best protect ourselves. If he has code requirements that say he needs to do it a certain way, then he should. I would.

I don't have any code in my area, so it's up to me to decide what parts I should follow and what parts I'll ignore. I never heard about garages needing GFI outlets, so I obvously ignored that one. I'm not going to change anything, nor will I put them in another garage I build for myself.

300,000,000 people live in this country and allot of laws and codes are written because of what one person does. The odds of me needing a GFI outlet in my shop are about three hundred million to one. It's more likely that I'll die from my table saw, my drill or triping over an extension cord.

I've never spilled a soda or water on a TV or radio. It's an interesting question and I wonder if anybody has ever done so, or been injured from it. I'd be curious to know what the actual statistics are for electrical injury and how many could have been prevented from a GFI protected outlet in a shop or garage.

Do industrial shops have GFI outlets? What about commercial garages? The next time I'm at one, I'm gonna take a look. I'd have thought I'd notice it, but I can't say I've ever seen them anywhere but bathrooms and kitchens.

You also bring up the savings to the building from installing GFI outlets. I'm assuming you mean that the building could burn down for some reason if they are not installed. How will that happen? Have they ever prevented a fire or stoped one from happening?

My understanding of home fires that start from electric sparks start in the outlet box most of the time. I Will a spark in an outlet on a line protected by a GFI prevent the house from burning down? It's an interesting question.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[Bird]

I don't have any code in my area, so it's up to me to decide

It was the same for me living out in the country.

I've never spilled a soda or water on a TV or radio.

Me neither, to the best of my recollection, although I did once turn over a glass of wine into my computer keyboard.

The odds of me needing a GFI outlet in my shop are about three hundred million to one.

Since I had no codes in the country, and back in the city bought something already built, I don't know what the codes are. This house was built in 1991 and there's one 115 volt duplex receptacle in the garage, on the front wall, that is a GFI. But there are two 230 volt receptacles, as well as three other 115 volt receptacles that are not.

I also have a 21' x 25' shop building with two 230 volt receptacles and fifteen 115 volt duplex receptacles and none of them are GFI.

I can't say I've ever seen them anywhere but bathrooms and kitchens.

And outdoors, such as most houses (at least in this area) have by the front door and another by the back door.

 

[BBB]

I do have a code, and I put GFI's in the garage. After I lost a freezer full of food and spent endless hours hunting down tripped GFI's, I took them all out and replaced them with standard receptacles. I still have some on the front porch and outside areas, and they still trip for nothing.

 

[tallyho8]

Since I had no codes in the country, and back in the city bought something already built, I don't know what the codes are. This house was built in 1991 and there's one 115 volt duplex receptacle in the garage, on the front wall, that is a GFI. But there are two 230 volt receptacles, as well as three other 115 volt receptacles that are not.QUOTE]

Though your other 3 115v receptacles are not gfi, they may be wired and protected through the first gfi. Click off your gfi and see if the other outlets go off too.

 

[Bird]

Since I had no codes in the country, and back in the city bought something already built, I don't know what the codes are. This house was built in 1991 and there's one 115 volt duplex receptacle in the garage, on the front wall, that is a GFI. But there are two 230 volt receptacles, as well as three other 115 volt receptacles that are not.QUOTE]

Though your other 3 115v receptacles are not gfi, they may be wired and protected through the first gfi. Click off your gfi and see if the other outlets go off too.

OK, you made me curious, so I checked and, nope, the other 3 are still live when the GFI is clicked off.

 

[mudcat]

Eddie, you still fall under the N.E.C. even though it isn't enforced. Like I said before, if you open your property up to the puplic and someone gets hurt, you are asking for it. Pleading ignorance or there is no code here will not do you any good.

 

[tallyho8]

OK, you made me curious, so I checked and, nope, the other 3 are still live when the GFI is clicked off.

Perhaps the previous owner just changed one outlet so he could have a safe place to plug in his outdoor tools. I know I feel a lot safer having my extension cord plugged into a gfi when I am lying under the house or truck using a light or using electric hedge trimmers in the yard. (It is so easy to cut your extension cord with hedge trimmers. This is why they make the cord only 6" long so it can't reach the blades. When you cut an extension cord with the blades and get electrocuted, it's not their fault, it's the extension cord's fault.)

 

[Bird]

This is why they make the cord only 6" long

Mine doesn't have any cord at all; you just plug your extension cord directly to it. And sure enough, like a danged fool, I cut the power cord nearly 3 years ago, but I was using an outdoor GFI receptacle. And as it happens, the GFI receptacle in the garage is the one I use for my shop vac when I clean out the cars. One of the other receptacles is never used, one is used only for the washing machine, and one has a power strip plugged into it that has a 4' florescent "plant" life and the garage door opener on the power strip.

 

[gemini5362]

Eddie the point I was trying to make about the cost of the GFI is that they are relatively cheap. Not putting them in the garage is not going to save any real money. If he runs two circuits all he has to do is have the first two receptacles GFI and then the rest of the circuits on that line are protected. I dont remember what I paid for them but I believe a GFI receptacle is less than 10.00 now.

What I find interesting is all the people that will pay for insurance for all of their vehicles, their home etc. but will talk about how big a waste of money it is to spend a few bucks for something that might one day save your life. As far as freezers and refrigerators go. I try to put them on a dedicated circuit that is not GFI protected or have anything else going to them.

 

[gemini5362]

Hi Gemini,






I've never spilled a soda or water on a TV or radio. It's an interesting question and I wonder if anybody has ever done so, or been injured from it. I'd be curious to know what the actual statistics are for electrical injury and how many could have been prevented from a GFI protected outlet in a shop or garage.

Do industrial shops have GFI outlets? What about commercial garages? The next time I'm at one, I'm gonna take a look. I'd have thought I'd notice it, but I can't say I've ever seen them anywhere but bathrooms and kitchens.

Eddie

I dont know of anyone that has been injured from doing that although I have know of some cases where they have been spilled on them I do know the answer to part of your question. the people that were injured from electrical shock would have been prevented by a working gfi. The GFI receptacles have been around a long time and work very well.


I am of the opinion that most outside outlets in homes built in the last 20 years probably have a GFI outlet.

People get injured or killed when they become a electrical connection between the Hot leg of an electrical circuit and ground. A GFI receptacle
monitors the amount of current going between the hot side and the neutral. When the amount of current in the neutral is less than the amount of current in the hot side that is indicative that part of the current is going to ground. Possibly through someones body if it detects current going through the ground it shuts off power to the receptacle. That is my understanding of how they work at least. If I am wrong I am sure someone will tell me.

Putting them in your garage or workshop is a personal decision. If you choose not to do that it is your decision. I am putting them so that they protect every circuit in my garage. Any possibility of me or someone in my family getting electrical shock is worth 20 or 30 dollars to prevent from happening.