GOOD TO BE SAFE

How to install a GFCI Breaker

Is your house grounded? Are you looking to add ground fault protection on circuits that currently don’t have it? There are a couple of ways you can achieve this. The first, is too install GFCI receptacles. Those are the devices that look like decora outlets with a test and reset button on them. The other way to achieve this, is too install GFCI breakers. This will protect your entire circuit. They are installed a little bit differently then regular circuit breakers. These breakers come with a neutral pigtail. You actually hook this pigtail up to the neutral bar in the panel.

Then the neutral wire from the circuit hooks up to the circuit breaker. There will be a white dot on the GFCI breaker that indicates which screw to put the neutral wire under. Then you hook the hot wire under the other screw. When you install GFCI breakers you are giving yourself that extra layer of protection in your home. The amount of current that passes through the hot wire needs to be the same amount of current that passes through the neutral current. If there is a slight variance the GFCI breaker will trip