DIYbanter - View Single Post - Electrical help. (Adding outlet to light switch box)

Doug Miller[_4_]

wrote in
:

I need to add a gfi outlet to my wifes bathroom. I want to add
it to the current light switch box. This box currently has two
switches, one for the fan,light and one for the vanity light.
Each switch has a white wire, a black wire, and a ground. When
checking with a voltmeter, the white wire on both switches
always has power. Each black wire only has power when the switch
is turned on. I am assuming the white wire is the power wire.

Both white *and* black are power wires: the white wire brings power to the switch, the black
wire takes power to the load when the switch is turned on.

Can I take these white wires off the switches, connect them to
the top and bottom "hot" terminal on the gfi outlet, then feed
the switches from both terminals on the other side of the gfi?

No. You need a neutral conductor for an outlet, and you don't have one.

When I did this messing around with the switches, everything
worked properly. I just thought that the black wire was always
the constant power wire.

When wiring a switch leg (which is what you have there), both white and black carry power.
Normally, the white wire is constant power, and the black wire is switched power, just as you
have there. The white wire is supposed to be marked black at the exposed ends, though.