if one gfci goes out. do they all?


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Old 12-04-14, 11:36 AM
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if one gfci goes out. do they all?

my mom had a house inspected in contemplation of purchase and the inspector wrote:
Ground fault circuit interrupters are not working properly at the exterior. This is a safety issue.

i was on the inspection but the inspector is on vacation this week so i cannot call him but i think i remember him saying that all the exterior gfci were on one circult so if one was bad. it makes all the others not work

does this sound accurate?

if true then i guess it means i just would have to find the bad one and replace it and they all work. i am charged with getting an estimate as to how much it would cost to get this fixed since the seller may just give mom money instead of fixing the issues. and the idea of getting someone in for a quick estimate doesnt seem feasible at this point. also she doesnt want me doing this, she wants to hire an electrician. so i need the 'rack rate' on what this may cost.
 
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Old 12-04-14, 11:40 AM
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Based on the description, I'm not sure what the inspector thinks is wrong. GFCI receptacles are designed to protect all of the downstream outlets. If they are doing that, then it sounds like it's working correctly. He might be describing a preference that the outlets be configured in a different way, but I don't see any safety issue described.

I can't imagine that changing it in some way would be more than the minimum service charge for an electrician if you call someone out.
 
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Old 12-04-14, 12:34 PM
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the way i remember it described is he found a bad one at the front of the house and used his device to test all the rest in the garage and rear of house and none worked. thats when he said if you fix one, that should make them all work

based on your description above, this seems plausible.


while i'm on topic, he recommended that even the side of the kitchen not near water still have gfci. thats as easy as me changing out a regular socket isnt it?
 
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Old 12-04-14, 12:52 PM
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A bit confused by what you wrote. It sounds like you had more then one GFCI receptacle on the circuit. Normally you would have only one GFCI receptacle and the other receptacle would be non GFCI receptacles daisy chained from the load side of the GFCI receptacle. What did you have?
 
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Old 12-04-14, 12:58 PM
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no clue only remember what i wrote. and distinctly that is one didnt work thats why the other ones didnt.
 
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Old 12-04-14, 01:04 PM
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True by modern code, and good safety practice that all of the receptacles in the kitchen will have GFCI protection. It may even be required when selling the house. In most kitchens the job is as simple as replacing the standard receptacle with a GFCI receptacle ($10 fix). If you want help with the procedure post back the wires you have in the box and we can provide some guidance.
 
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Old 12-04-14, 01:09 PM
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Standard setup is the first receptacle is a GFCI. The rest are not GFCI. The non GFCI receptacles are daisy chained on the load side of the GFCI so they all go out when the GFCI is tripped or tested.
and the inspector wrote:
If a home inspector findings can be taken with a grain of salt till verified accurate by someone with specific training in the field of the alleged problem.
 
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Old 12-04-14, 02:49 PM
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so i need the 'rack rate' on what this may cost.
Time for a service call, maybe 1 to 2 hours and some material. No one can give a price for what you describe without estimating it high. It could be a simple bad GFCI device, but you could also have other problems with so many of them not working. It's a seller's issue, put it back on them. They need to have this fixed regardless of who buys the house.
 
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Old 12-05-14, 06:16 AM
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is it true that since we inspected the house and brought X number of things to their attention that they must disclose those things to other potential buyers if this falls through?
 
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Old 12-05-14, 06:48 AM
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I really doubt it, the buyer hires the inspector to advise them. The seller has no obligation to trust your inspector's opinion.
 
 

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