4 Outlet Outdoor Gang Box?
Question:I am additing two gfci receptacles outside. Its a 20 amp circuit. Since it was a long run, I used 10 gauge wire. I am having a very difficult time hooking up both receptables in the box. With the wire nuts, and the pig tails (12 gauge) I am using to hook up the receotables, i cant fit everything into the box. What am I missing? Since the box is rated for outdoor use, I thought it would be big enough to handle two GFCI receptacles.
Any help would be apreciated.
Thanks
Answers:
Yes, GFI's in outdoor boxes are difficult, especially with 10AWG. Like everyone else said, you only need one GFI, put you feed in the LINE side, and another standard duplex outlet off the LOAD side, if the GFI trips, everything coming off the load will trip too. Doing this will also eliminate your wire nuts, hopefull you can pull more wire in and have a really long wire for your ground, and never even cut it, wraping it around each screw, then coming directly off to the next ground screw, elminating your wirenut for ground too. And you can use 12AWG from the GFI LOAD to the duplex since there will be no voltage drop in a 6 inch length of wire. A word advice from someone who has installed hundreds, take everything out, and away from the box where you have pleanty of room, while the GFI and duplex and just like sitting on a table, take short pieces of wire and pre-install the wires from the GFI LOAD to the duplex so that is already done when you start working in that tight box, then take your wires and bend 90 degree turns in the wire, mashing them (careful not to knick the wires) tight to the back of the box then tight to a coner then up as high as the screws on the GFI. It's kind of hard to explain in text but the jist of it is to spend the extra time to prebend and place your wires in the spots they will need to be, as oppose to just hooking everything up, with no bends already made in the wire then trying to figure out where to place the wires in the empty spaces.
I don't understand what the problem is. You have one feed comming from inside to outside. That should be 3 wires. You connect your hot, neutral and ground to the first socket. Run a neutral and a hot from that one to your other GFCI. Since it's a GFCI you actually don't need a ground as it's not required here for code at least. Most GFCI's have two brass screws on the top and a little sticker covering them indicating for another connection.
You only need one GFI outlet. You can use a regular 2nd outlet as long as it is wired to come after the GFI protection. That should provide a lot more room in the box. Quality GFI outlets should have that wiring information in their instructions.
If wired correctly to the 'load' side, the 2nd outlet will not work after you hit the test button on the 1st GFI outlet. Read the 3rd paragraph on the link below.
You need a deep box. Those are available at electrical supply outlets.
http://electrical.gillroys.com/electrica...
Normal hardware stores do not carry them as they are not a big seller. If you are setting up two GFI protected outlets, just have the one closest to the power as a GFI. I also recommend two separate outdoor rated boxes, as it will be an easier and safer installation.
I would of went with a bigger box for one reason. Always allow room for growth.
You should'nt have any problems wiring up a gangbox unless your not certified and are unfamiliar with electricity.
I hookes one up for my friend at his trailer and Georgia Power approved it and turned his power on.
First of all you really only need 1 GFCI receptacle, (the first one in the line). Maybe you don't need any wire nuts since the outlets usually have two neutral terminals connected together with a metal tab and two hot terminals also connected together with a tab. Run short wires from the first outlet to the second. The second outlet can be a non-GFCI outlet. Don't forget to hook up the grounds also.
Modman has it right. Install a GFCI outlet with your power wires then wire a regular outlet from the GFCI. The second outlet would be wired to the "load" side. This outlet will be protected by the GFCI. The wire between the two outlets can be 12 gage wire.
You also might be trying to use a standard depth box when there are deep 2 1/2 " boxes available . There are also oversize boxes but I forgot whether they come with double duplex inserts for the 2 receptacles too. Again you only need 1 GFCI and connect a regular 20 Amp receptacle to it.
Most of the information that you have received is correct except for one small thing.Using a smaller wire at the end of a branch circuit is illegal you can use a bigger wire at the end of a circuit but should never use a smaller wire.
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