From: jack@myamiga.mixcom.com (Jack Decker)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: GFI question
Date: 10 Apr 92 21:08:00 GMT
Article-I.D.: f8.1992Apr10.12099b
Organization: Northern Bytes BBS - Sault Ste. Marie, MI U.S.A.

In article <3383@ecicrl.ocunix.on.ca> dated 9 Apr 92 04:32:53 GMT,
clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca (Chris Lewis) wrote:

 > >>Remember that a GFI recepticle protects all recepticles further on the
 > >>circuit as well as itself.  You can also buy a GFI circuit breaker
(although
 > >>these are expensive--about $35 - $50 last time I checked).
 >
 > Triple that - a split receptacle needs a dual GFI breaker.  Cheapest
 > one I've seen was $150CDN.  Note that Chris is posting from Canada.

[stuff deleted]

 > In most cases, the only practical solution for Chris is to install
 > a (very expensive) dual GFI breaker.

I'm going to stick my nose in here with the caveat that I probably don't know
what I'm talking about (and I am ***NOT*** an electrician), but on the off
chance I do, it might save someone considerable money.

In converted mobile home electrical panels in homes going to Canada, the
Ontario Hydro inspector has allowed (and in fact encouraged) us to make "dual"
breakers by using two SINGLE breakers side by side with a small metal device
called a "tie handle."  These are not that easy to find (usually only the
electrical wholesalers have them) but on the other hand they are such an
inexpensive item that one time a counter clerk just gave me a couple of them
rather than go through the trouble of writing them up (other times the guy has
said "just give me a quarter", which I suspect went into a petty cash box (or
his pocket) after I walked out the door).

The tie handle simply connects the plastic handles of two breakers together in
such a way that you can't have one breaker on and the other off.

Now, I don't *know* that a tie handle could be used to bridge the handles of
two single GFI breakers to make a dual, but in the absence of a code provision
that specifically states that it's not allowed, I'll bet you could get away
with it.

But the "fly in the ointment" is that not only the BLACK wire passes through a
GFI breaker, but also the WHITE wire.  Obviously, in feeding a split
receptacle, you'd have to tie the two whites from the two GFI's together on the
side feeding the receptacles.  For some reason I suspect this still might work,
but maybe it would not (I have to wonder if it's ever been tried).

If any electricians tell me this won't work, I'll take your word for it!

Failing that, my other question would be whether putting two standard GFI
receptacles side by side in a duplex outlet box would satisfy the code, if each
receptacle were fed from opposite sides of the 220 volt circuit.  In other
words, on the left hand side you'd have one GFI with two outlets fed from Black
and White, and on the right hand side you'd have another GFI fed from Red and
White (with the white common to both receptacles).  In my mind, this would be
the same as two split receptacles except the "split" would be between left and
right instead of top and bottom.  I suppose the code wouldn't allow anything
THAT sensible!

Jack Decker                               | No, I don't own an Amiga; I just
Internet address: jack@myamiga.mixcom.com | get Internet mail via a gateway
Fidonet address:  1:154/8                 | system that runs on an Amiga.
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house