GFI Requirements

[Gordp]

I have a main floor Bathroom and a second floor bathroom, situated one above the other. They are on one circuit. I have a GFI outlet in the main floor bathroom, a plain plug in the upstairs one. I was replacing the one GFI unit recently (just as an update) and an electrician came into the home and insisted that I put an extra GFI unit upstairs. This goes against my previous advice. Can anyone help?

[pushkins]

You cannot run two GFCI's on the same circuit, one will continually trip out the other.
Code now says that each bathroom must have it's own dedicated circuit and cannot be shared by any other circuit or room, however there are "grandfather laws" that may well allow your situation. Grandfather laws cease to exist if any remodeling work or major electrical work is done in the room.

You said both bathrooms are on the same circuit, if the GFCI trips does it protect the other bathroom, if so your OK if not then you need to move the GFCI to the other bathroom so it protects down the line.

[Gordp]

Thanks pushkin. That is very helpful information.

Gordp

[HayZee518]

you mentioned in your post that one bathroom has the gfi and the other bathroom just has a regular outlet. this leads me to believe that the upstairs bath outlet is coming off the bottom two screws of the gfi which protect the downstream outlets. a ground fault in either receptacle will trip the gfi disabling BOTH outlets.

[manhattan42]

You cannot run two GFCI's on the same circuit, one will continually trip out the other.
Code now says that each bathroom must have it's own dedicated circuit and cannot be shared by any other circuit or room, however there are "grandfather laws" that may well allow your situation. Grandfather laws cease to exist if any remodeling work or major electrical work is done in the room.

You said both bathrooms are on the same circuit, if the GFCI trips does it protect the other bathroom, if so your OK if not then you need to move the GFCI to the other bathroom so it protects down the line.

All due respect, but this is untrue.

There is no restriction in the NEC that prohibits using multiple GFCIs on any circuit nor is there any article in the NEC that requires bathrooms be on separate circuits...and there never has been.

Article 210.11(C)(3) only requires that there be a minimum of 1 circuit in a dwelling to supply bathroom receptacle outlets. That single circuit can serve all bathrooms or it can serve one bathroom. You may have multiple circuits, but only 1 circuit dedicated to bathroom receptacle outlets is required.

Likewise, if one has 3 receptacle outlets in a single bathroom on a single circuit, it is entrely permissible to have an individual GFCI receptacle located in each outlet box...permissible to have 1 GFCI receptacle in the bathroom upstream that protects all other outlets downstream....or permissible to protect the entire circuit with a GFCI breaker.

All GFCI protected receptacles are required by code to be labeled 'GFCI protected'. GFCIs come with small stickers that can be placed on any receptacle indicating it is protected.

In the original poster's situation, I agree with HayZee that it is likley there is a single circuit serving two bathrooms and that the 2nd floor bath is already protected by the 1st floor bath GFCI and needs no other consideration....except to have a label attached to the 2nd indicating it is protected.

This wiring method is done all the time and is entirely legal.

Not very convenient, but entirely legal.

[Gordp]

Thanks to Manhatten and Hayzee as well. This situation now makes sense to me. I appreciate all the help.

[pushkins]

I stand corrected for not explaining myself correctly.
A circuit can supply multiple bathrooms BUT it must be dedicated to bathroom outlet use ONLY, it cannot be run off to supply hallway lighting etc...