Installing a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) Outlet: A Step-by-Step Guide

Hey everybody, it's Jeff with Home Repair Tutor Com and today I'm gonna show you how to replace this electrical outlet on the outside of my house with a GFCI. This is really important if you're going to install lights on the outside of your house or you want to plug anything on the exterior because having a GFCI for protection purposes can save you from shocking yourself.

First, make sure you turn the electricity off at your circuit breaker for this outlet. Then test it using a voltage detector like the one I have here. Don't forget to turn it on if you have a little green button or if there's a power switch on and test it to make sure that you don't have any power otherwise you're going to shock yourself which is really bad.

So, make sure you test this outlet. It's not beeping my voltage detector isn't beeping so it means that the power is turned off at the circuit breaker. So, do that first. The first thing that you need to understand when installing a GFCI is the difference between a line and a load. A line cable delivers power from the service panel, breaker panel or fuse box whichever one you have to the GFCI.

You know if there's only one cable entering the electrical box and by cable I mean a black wire and a white wire this is the line cable and it should be connected to the GFCI's line terminals only. You can see here on the back of the GFCI this is a GFCI outlet they have a line cable location for the hot which is indicated by the brass nut there and then this is where your neutral or white wire goes with the silver screw so that's the line cable. The load cable will deliver power from the GFCI to another receptacle or even switch in your circuit.

This cable should be connected to the GFCI's load terminals only and the load terminals are under the yellow sticker here on the GFCI so don't remove this sticker right at the beginning of your replacement of the old outlet. You want to wait to see how many cables you have entering the box in this case I have two separate cables coming in I have two hots indicated by two black wires and two neutrals coming in and indicated by the white wire for some reason they have electrical tape over this white wire.

I'll have to inspect that to make sure there isn't any kind of break in this neutral line so know the difference between the line and the load wires coming into your electrical outlet box. The first thing that you want to do is unscrew the outlet and what you want to do is label the wires in the box. You want to try and figure out where the load where the line cable is and where the load cable is remember the line will have a hot-wired black and a neutral wire and white and you want to separate those two apart from the other hot and the neutral that are in the box.

Always want to unscrew the hot wires first from the outlet the ground will be the last wire that you take off okay so take these hot wires off separate them. The next thing you want to do is take off the neutral wires and these neutrals look pretty corroded by moisture what I want to do is use an emery cloth on them or even strip the cable to make sure that they have a good connection.

Then finally take off the ground wire it's very corroded so what I'm gonna do to make these wires a little bit better is use Emery cloth to clean them up you can also use sandpaper but we want to make sure there's the connection is good between the wires and that and the receptacle or the terminal screws to clean these up with Emery cloth get them looking good. Or if you have enough wire you can always cut this off strip about 1/2 inch there 5/8 of an inch or 3/4 of an inch off however much wire bare copper wire you need and you'll have a brand new piece of copper wire to work with

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhi everybody its Jeff with home repair tutor comm and today I'm gonna be replaced saying this electrical outlet on the outside of my house with a GFCI or a ground fault circuit interrupter outlet so I'm gonna explain to you how to do it and this is really important if you're going to install lights on the outside of your house or you want to plug anything on the exterior it's important to have a GFCI for protection purposes so that if there is a ground fault or if there's some sort of problem with your electrical wiring the electricity won't go through a human body it'll instead go to the GFCI and this will stop the electricity from flowing to you and thus shocking you so let's get started make sure you turn the electricity off at your circuit breaker for this outlet and then test it using a voltage detector like the one I have here don't forget to turn it on if you have a little green button or if there's a power switch on and test it to make sure that you don't have any power otherwise you're going to shock yourself which is really bad so make sure you test this test the outlet it's not beeping my voltage detector isn't beeping so it means that the power is turned off at the circuit breaker so do that first the first thing that you need to understand when installing a GFCI is the difference between a line and a load a line cable delivers power from the service panel breaker panel or fuse box whichever one you have to the GFCI you know if if you there's only one cable entering the electrical box and by cable I mean a black wire and a white wire this is the line cable and it should be connected to the GFCIs line terminals only and you can see here on the back of the GFCI this is a GFCI outlet they have a line cable location for the hot which is indicated by the brass nut there and then this is where your neutral or white wire goes with the silver screw so that's the line cable the load cable will deliver power from the GFCI to another receptacle or even switch in your circuit this cable should be connected to the GFCIs load terminals only and the load terminals are under the yellow sticker here on the GFCI so don't remove this sticker right at the beginning of your replacement of the old outlet you want to wait to see how many cables you have entering the box in this case I have two separate cables coming in I have two hots indicated by two black wires and two neutrals coming in and indicated by the white wire for some reason they have electrical tape over this white wire and I'll have to inspect that to make sure there isn't any kind of break in this neutral line so know the difference between the line and the load wires coming into your electrical outlet box the first thing that you want to do is unscrew and well what you want to do is label the wires in the box you want to try and figure out where the load where the line cable is and where the load cable is remember the line will have a hot-wired black and a neutral wire and white and you want to separate those two apart from the other hot and the neutral that are in the box always want to unscrew the hot wires first from the outlet the ground will be the last wire that you take off okay so take these hot wires off separate them the next thing you want to do is take off the neutral wires and these neutrals look pretty corroded by moisture what I want to do is use an emery cloth on them or even strip the cable to make sure that they have a good connection and then finally take off the ground wire it's very corroded so what I'm gonna do to make these wires a little bit better is use Emery cloth to clean them up you can also use sandpaper but we want to make sure there's the connection is good between the wires and that and the receptacle or the terminal screws to clean these up with Emery cloth get them looking good or if you have enough wire you can always cut this off strip about 1/2 inch there 5/8 of an inch or 3/4 of an inch off however much wire bare copper wire you need and you'll have a brand new piece of copper wire to work withhi everybody its Jeff with home repair tutor comm and today I'm gonna be replaced saying this electrical outlet on the outside of my house with a GFCI or a ground fault circuit interrupter outlet so I'm gonna explain to you how to do it and this is really important if you're going to install lights on the outside of your house or you want to plug anything on the exterior it's important to have a GFCI for protection purposes so that if there is a ground fault or if there's some sort of problem with your electrical wiring the electricity won't go through a human body it'll instead go to the GFCI and this will stop the electricity from flowing to you and thus shocking you so let's get started make sure you turn the electricity off at your circuit breaker for this outlet and then test it using a voltage detector like the one I have here don't forget to turn it on if you have a little green button or if there's a power switch on and test it to make sure that you don't have any power otherwise you're going to shock yourself which is really bad so make sure you test this test the outlet it's not beeping my voltage detector isn't beeping so it means that the power is turned off at the circuit breaker so do that first the first thing that you need to understand when installing a GFCI is the difference between a line and a load a line cable delivers power from the service panel breaker panel or fuse box whichever one you have to the GFCI you know if if you there's only one cable entering the electrical box and by cable I mean a black wire and a white wire this is the line cable and it should be connected to the GFCIs line terminals only and you can see here on the back of the GFCI this is a GFCI outlet they have a line cable location for the hot which is indicated by the brass nut there and then this is where your neutral or white wire goes with the silver screw so that's the line cable the load cable will deliver power from the GFCI to another receptacle or even switch in your circuit this cable should be connected to the GFCIs load terminals only and the load terminals are under the yellow sticker here on the GFCI so don't remove this sticker right at the beginning of your replacement of the old outlet you want to wait to see how many cables you have entering the box in this case I have two separate cables coming in I have two hots indicated by two black wires and two neutrals coming in and indicated by the white wire for some reason they have electrical tape over this white wire and I'll have to inspect that to make sure there isn't any kind of break in this neutral line so know the difference between the line and the load wires coming into your electrical outlet box the first thing that you want to do is unscrew and well what you want to do is label the wires in the box you want to try and figure out where the load where the line cable is and where the load cable is remember the line will have a hot-wired black and a neutral wire and white and you want to separate those two apart from the other hot and the neutral that are in the box always want to unscrew the hot wires first from the outlet the ground will be the last wire that you take off okay so take these hot wires off separate them the next thing you want to do is take off the neutral wires and these neutrals look pretty corroded by moisture what I want to do is use an emery cloth on them or even strip the cable to make sure that they have a good connection and then finally take off the ground wire it's very corroded so what I'm gonna do to make these wires a little bit better is use Emery cloth to clean them up you can also use sandpaper but we want to make sure there's the connection is good between the wires and that and the receptacle or the terminal screws to clean these up with Emery cloth get them looking good or if you have enough wire you can always cut this off strip about 1/2 inch there 5/8 of an inch or 3/4 of an inch off however much wire bare copper wire you need and you'll have a brand new piece of copper wire to work with\n"