Outdoor outlets on dedicated circuit or.......?
- Thread starter JoeNorm
- Start date
- Status
Buck Parrish
Senior Member
- Location
- NC & IN
You can come off any non dedicated space circuits. Some companies come off one of the garage circuits. But if you're doing large houses. That wouldn't be prudent.
rjniles
Member
- Location
- Coastal South Carolina
Coming off garage circuit is a violation under current code.
Sent from my Moto E (4) Plus using Tapatalk
(4) Garage Branch Circuits. In addition to the number of branch circuits required by other parts of this section, at least one 120-volt, 20-ampere branch circuit shall be installed to supply receptacle outlets in attached garages and in detached garages with electric power. This circuit shall have no other outlets.
Exception: This circuit shall be permitted to supply readily accessible outdoor receptacle outlets.
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
Permitted under the 2017 NEC.
hillbilly1
Senior Member
- Location
- North Georgia mountains
- Occupation
- Owner/electrical contractor
The way that is worded, a second circuit would be required for the lights? Usually I pull power for the lights from the room at the garage entrance into the house anyway, but with a detached garage, two circuits would be required or a panel to provide two or more circuits.
The light would be another outlet. The exception is for receptacles.
hillbilly1
Senior Member
- Location
- North Georgia mountains
- Occupation
- Owner/electrical contractor
It says this circuit shall have no other “outlets”, it’s not part of the exception. They consider a light or smoke detector an “outlet” when it comes to Arc Fault protection, so it would be the same here. Probably not what they intended when they wrote the rule, but if it applies elsewhere, then.............There are a lot of detached garages out there that have only one circuit, according to that, they do not meet code.
It shall have no other outlets. Lights, sump pump, smokes. furnace, dishwasher, etc. But the exception allows for outside receptacles.
AFCIs have nothing to do with the definition of an outlet. That's in the Definitions of Art. 100.
- Location
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Occupation
- Retired Electrical Contractor
We often put them on a separate circuit unless you have a circuit that does not have afci. I find that afci are a real nuisance when using power saws. That was years ago but we still try and separate it if we are not having to watch costs
hillbilly1
Senior Member
- Location
- North Georgia mountains
- Occupation
- Owner/electrical contractor
I’m not saying it does have anything to do with afci, I’m saying the say same definition of outlet that requires afci protection would apply here. What I am saying is you can’t run a single circuit out to a detached garage because of what this rule says. If you go by this rule, two circuits would be the minimum to the garage. Don’t know of anybody doing that short of putting a panel out there.
Where are outside receptacles and detached garages required to be AFCI'd?
- Location
- Illinois
- Occupation
- retired electrician
Yes, two circuits are required for a garage. That was a 2017 code change. These two circuits can be supplied by a single multiwire branch circuit.
LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
A single MWBC can meet those requirements.
Added: Sorry, Don, hadn't seen your post yet.
hillbilly1
Senior Member
- Location
- North Georgia mountains
- Occupation
- Owner/electrical contractor
Again, I said nothing about the garage needing to be afic, what I said was using the same logic and definition that requires afci for smoke detectors even though they are not on the bedroom receptacle circuit because they are considered an outlet.
hillbilly1
Senior Member
- Location
- North Georgia mountains
- Occupation
- Owner/electrical contractor
Yes, but is anybody doing it? I’m betting our local AHJ is not enforcing it, or probably even aware of it.
I have no idea how you went from using the garage circuit for an exterior receptacle to using AFCIs for smokes.
hillbilly1
Senior Member
- Location
- North Georgia mountains
- Occupation
- Owner/electrical contractor
The definition of an outlet. Smoke detectors are usually on a different circuit than the room receptacles, but are still required to be on afci because they are identified as an outlet. So if lights and smokes are said to be outlets, then the same can be said about the lights in a garage which are prohibited to be on the receptacle circuit. I was just using that as an example.
- Status