On Feb 11, 6:54*am, RBM wrote:
On 2/11/2012 1:08 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:









On Feb 10, 3:04 pm, *wrote:
On 2/5/2012 6:06 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:

I'm pretty sure that this is OK... just want to make sure.

Assume the junction box is sized correctly for four runs of 14/2 w/
ground Romex.

Romex from panel enters the junction box in the basement.That wire is
wire-nutted to a run that goes up to the line side of a GFCI
receptacle on the first floor.

* From the load side of the GFCI, a run of Romex comes back down into
the junction box and is wire-nutted to a run that goes off to a 3
prong receptacle, also on the first floor..

Basically I'm just making sure that it's OK to use the junction box as
a pass-through for the run that goes to the receptacles that the GFCI
is protecting.

Thanks!

Nothing wrong with the junction box except it may cause problems in the
future if it's not clear what you did. For the price of a gfci
receptacle, it might be a cleaner job to just tap the second outlet
directly from the junction box. You also don't mention where the second
outlet is going. To meet code, if that's the intent, it would have to be
going to a location that doesn't require AFCI protection.

It's less about code and more about convenience.

The last few ungrounded 2 prong receptacles in my house are (were) in
the living room. It was never a problem, since they were only used for
lamps. I've installed enough grounded outlets in various locations,
including the living room, to (formally) meet my 3 prong needs.

However, with all of the cell phones, laptops, iPods, etc. that end up
needing to be plugged in when the kids come home from college or stop
by dinner, I occasionally find the need to plug a power strip or a 3
pronged charger into one of the "lamp" receptacles. I opted (at least
for now) to put a GFCI in and use 3 prong receptacles downstream.

The original wiring had the source coming into the junction box and
then wire nutted to 2 others runs. One went to a "stand alone"
receptacle directly upstairs from the junction box, the other run went
to a receptacle on another wall. That receptacle was the first
receptacle in a 3 receptacle chain.

Instead of using 2 GFCI's (a stand alone and the first in the chain) I
chose to replace the stand alone with a GFCI and then fish a "load
wire" back to the junction box and use that to power/protect the
downstream receptacles. (I actually used the old wire to fish 2 runs
of new Romex to/from the GFCI.) That's what prompted my question about
using the same junction box for the pass through.

Later this summer I plan to do some work to do in the basement which
will require me to move some bookcases, etc. At that point, I'll have
access to the old ungrounded cloth cover wire and plan to replace it
with 14/2 w/ ground from the junction box to the downstream
receptacles. The source wire has a ground.

That's something that surprised me when I opened the junction box. The
old cloth covered source wire has a ground, but the 2 cloth covered
runs to the receptacles didn't have a ground. The wires are all of the
same vintage, so why use 14/2 w/ground to the junction box but not to
the devices?

To simplify it even more, you could have installed the gfci in the
basement J box and protected both runs from there.
Strangely, Romex has been available with or without a grounding
conductor, albeit undersized, since 1925 and possibly earlier. There
wasn't much use for the conductor at the time, so advertising suggested
that it made stripping the cable easier. There were locations where a
grounding conductor was required, such as for supplying boxes that fed
light fixtures that were mounted to tin ceilings.

Perhaps installing the GFCI in the junction box (albeit a *different*
junction box) would have been easier, if it ever tripped, it would
have been a pain to reset.

It's up above a refrigerator that typically has items stored on top of
it. There's no way to reach it without a step ladder and moving stuff.
You can't even see the junction box because of the stored items, so
the green light indicator would have been on little use until the
items were removed.

In the living room it's easily viewable and accessible.

But I do see your point from a wiring perspective.