[bob_cntrctr]

Gentlemen,

I'm dealing with an older place. Ungrounded outlets everywhere, including near sinks. Looking to do a little upgrade to at least gfci protection on outlets near kitchen and bathroom sinks.

I know I can go to gfci outlets IF I label them "No Ground", or I can go to gfci breakers in I label them "No ground" and "gfci protected" - but what are the pros and cons of each?

Breakers - expensive. What else?

Thanks.

 

[bob_cntrctr]

OK, thought of one - if there's any knob and tube - ya, it's that old - the unbalanced load on the common return if there's more than one outlet on a circuit and both are used will trip the breaker every time.

 

[bob_cntrctr]

You should become intimately familiar with 406.3(D) before making any decisions.

406.3(D) is the reason for the question.

None of the receptacles actually need replacing, but I'm going to anyway, and so since these outlets close to sinks would require gfci outlets, that's what they're getting, as 406.3(D) requires.

And since 406.3(D) allows gfci's on non-grounded circuits so long as they're properly labelled, (in fact requires them at these locations) that's also what they're getting.

But 406.3(D) only requires that the new outlets be gfci protected. I don't believe it specifies that it must be gfci outlets, only that the receptacles be gfci protected an properly labelled, leaving open the possibility that they could be protected by gfci breakers instead.