How to Identify the First Outlet on Any Electrical Circuit

[@Sparky-ww5re]

Nice, clear and concise. There may be a number of reasons one may need to determine which receptacle is the beginning of circuit. An obvious example would go like this: I just purchased a 1950s house at a reasonably low price given the current shortage of affordable housing situation, and I have two wire receptacles or three prong with open grounds everywhere, served by a fuse panel, and I'm on a really tight budget and replacing the fuse panel and the cloth sheath no ground NM will have to wait until the funds are available, but I want to maximize safety to the occupants of the home in the meantime. An inexpensive way to handle this situation is to place an AFCI/GFCI type receptacle at the beginning of each circuit, properly label the downstream receptacles "AFCI/GFCI PROTECTED, NO EQUIPMENT GROUND " and your good to go.

[@TopHomeowner]

Perfect example, thanks for your comment!

[@spelunkerd]

Just a note of caution for older homes. A couple of generations ago it was very popular to use multiwire branch circuits for kitchen wiring because you use less wire and because receptacles are less likely to blow a fuse when multiple nearby appliances are used at the same time. The tip off for this is the characteristic double pole breaker that mechanically trips both legs of the circuit if either leg is overloaded. When you look in the receptacle box, you'll find a red hot in addition to a black, and the neutral was shared. It was common practice in that era to cut off the bridging strap for the receptacle so one leg would feed the top outlet and the second hot leg (180 deg out of phase) would feed the bottom outlet. Or sometimes adjacent outlets would be simply fed with different legs. In this day of GFCI protection it is more complicated to protect both legs of a multiwire branch circuit because the neutral is shared, so multiwire branch circuits were phased out of new construction when GFCI protection became mandatory.

[@csimet]

Just a tip... modern code requires two separate 20A circuits for a kitchen counter, so in most cases expect to have to identify both and not just one. I'm sure many homes only have one due to age or improperly following code requirements. In a good design, the outlets should be staggered between each circuit... this helps eliminate overloading any one circuit with too many devices. In my kitchen, I have one on the first circuit and three on the second.

[@davidwilliams1060]

Thanks. I realized from your opening that I can match basement wiring (using a detector) to the circuit breaker panel, simplifying mapping switches and outlets upstairs.

[@rashellyohn5128]

Thanks for the understanding you shared. I have the exact issue with my old house. The outlets tested for open ground. Original outlets were 2 prong receptacles. I want to install a GFCI at the beginning of the chain in an area but because the outlets test for open ground. and the gfci come factory tripped, how do you get the gfci to work if they will only work if it reads correct not with an open ground?

[@surferdude642]

You should be able to reset the GFCI without a ground connection as long as the hot and neutral wires are connected to the Line and you turn the power on.

[@Stephenwc]

The point of GFCI is to ensure grounding of the line. If there is no ground why would it be expected for GFCI to work?

[@GimpGladly]

​@@Stephenwcthis is a common misunderstanding of the purpose of GFCI. The GFCI continuously monitors the current on the hot and neutral wires and trips if the difference is greater than a few milliamps. The reason this works is that this condition of a large enough difference indicates that there is current flowing where it should not be. Whether this is on the ground wire or not is inconsequential to its operation. The term "ground fault" means exactly this and does not refer to the ground wire explicitly, though the ground wire is in fact named after the condition in a sense as it was introduced as a way to offer a preferential controlled safer path for current to take in the condition of a ground fault.

[@LonneLpp]

This video I am going to come back to as I want to trace the circuits in my house! Your GFCI video is exactly what I was going to look up next AND popped up RIGHT at the end of the video hahaha

[@Jahcrooks]

Thank you, just the answers I was looking for.

[@glasshalffull2930]

3:11 Even if you think the power is off, it’s not a good idea to grab the receptacle contacts when removing a receptacle.

[@TrellblazerMedia]

I saw that.😳

[@AARON10B]

The problem I see with this video is when you say if there is only one set of wires going to the receptacle. DIYers without electrical experience may not understand that they need to look into the box and see if there is one or two sets coming into the box, if the installer/electrician used pigtails you will have two sets coming into the box but only one set connected to the receptacle.

[@ralphwaters8905]

That approach certainly works, but there's a faster approach to locating the first outlet in a daisy chain. Get a long extension cord and plug it into one outlet on the circuit of interest. Plug a heavy load like a 1200W hair dryer into another (duplex) outlet on the same circuit breaker. Use a multimeter to measure the voltage drop between the female end of the extension cord and the outlet with the dryer. Place the meter probes between the neutral (wide) receptacle slots in both outlets and look for low voltage AC. This is the voltage drop in house wiring under this heavy load, and indicates the relative length of the wiring between the outlets. A 1200 Watt (10 Amp) load will create a drop of 0.15 to 0.25 Volts per foot of house wire, depending on whether its #12 or #14 wire, respectively. If you see no measurable voltage, the extension cord is plugged into an outlet downstream of the hair dryer. If you see a measurable voltage > 1 VAC, the extension cord is upstream of the dryer. Repeat this procedure with the upstream outlet and other outlets on the circuit until you find that there is no voltage difference between it and all the others. This should be the first outlet in the chain, and the correct place to install a GFCI to protect all the other outlets. Verify this by disconnecting the hot lead from this outlet and ensuring all the others are dead, then install your GFCI here. This technique will also tell you the exact sequence of outlet wiring by reversing the logic.

[@TwilightxKnight13]

Umm no. Voltage does not drop in a parallel wiring system. If voltage is being dropped by end usage, the house is wired incorrectly.

[@yeroca]

@@TwilightxKnight13 Wires have some resistance. Remember Ohm's law: E = I R. If, for example, you have 0.2 ohms of resistance between two points on a conductor, and 10A through that wire, that's a 2V drop. You certainly can use the method he described.

[@youcandoit2178]

When I am trying to figure out which circuit breaker is running a receptacle, I plug in a boom box and turn it up enough so I can hear it at the entrance panel. Easy!

[@wm973]

Just a suggestion. I always put the outlet tester on both outlets. I had a situation where someone wired a hot on the top side and switched on the lower side from another switch. Now I always check both while turning on/off all the switches.

[@John-b1v6u]

An even easier way to find out if a receptacle is GFCI protected and/or which GFCI is protecting it is to use the button on the top of the tester you were using. This will trip the GFCI just like the test button, but from anywhere downstream. Be sure to check for a GFCI protected breaker if you can't find a tripped receptacle.

[@roadrunner694]

That is the problem with alot of wiring in old houses,no gfci,no ground, that is why we are trying to find the first outlet to install a gfci,if there already is an gfci,well it would make it easy,rough when you don't have one.

[@surferdude642]

The test button on the gfci' tester doesn't work without a ground connection.

[@timpeterson2738]

Hi, I just had an issue In a house built in Alberta, in 1978. The 3 outlets and 3 lights in basement family room, the light in basement bathroom, the light in 1 bedroom in basement, plus 3 outlets and light in master bedroom and it's bathroom. Light and outlet , all stopped. I tested the breaker and have 125 volts ? It seams like this line is overloaded but honestly only 2 rooms are really used. I pulled the majority of the outlets and switches open and found nothing wrong so I'm thinking a line has failed. Last week we had out ducts cleaned so there was suction and compressed air used- I found one vent pipe joint blown open. And the day before we had satellite TV installed- I looked where he pulled cable including by breaker box and found nothing ? Dag I hate having to call electrician as the duct cleaning cost enough and we have ZERO spare cash for this type of expense. Any ideas you could throw my way of how to test this proper. I have outlet meter and a fluk or volt/amp tester but never had this issue before . Help

[@alyte11]

When you restore power with a recepticle removed and wires capped, how do you know if you've found the first outlet?

[@TopHomeowner]

The rest of the outlets won't have any power. If, say there are 5 in a room and 3 work and two don't, you're towards the end.

[@MrCosmic12]

@@TopHomeowner Wouldn't this method only work if the receptacles are wired in series? If they are wired in parallel, if you cap off any one receptacle all the others would still have power, correct?

[@Dairybacon]

Just install a GFI or dual function breaker at the panel. Simpler and often cheaper than using a standard or arc fault breaker with the GFCI receptacle.

[@nprakashverma]

Thank you, It saved me $125.. Appreciate the video 👍

[@blessnorthamerica7919]

What if all the three on your countop are GFCI receptacles? The code says all kitchen plugs must be GFCI receptacles

[@Jahcrooks]

I wonder too if all the outlets can be gfci

[@surferdude642]

Yes, all three can be GFCI. For the ones on the same circuit, only use the Line side to connect between them. The Load can only be used by the last one downstream.

[@Stephenwc]

You don't need more than one GFCI on the circuit: and it will be the outlet closest to the circuit breaker.

[@glasshalffull2930]

FYI-Only one GFCI receptacle, the closest to the breaker panel, is necessary. If a circuit has more than one GFCI, the GFCIs may interact with each other and trip for no reason.

[@ahs823]

I have no power in all outlets except one light switch. Checked all outlets they have only two input wires so no daisy chain. My only guess if they are getting electricity from the attic but doesn’t make sense because how the light switch is still working?

[@davidkiser4758]

You need to pull all of your receptacles if they are like the one you show at 3:50. You should NEVER back stab and you should always tighten down all of the terminal screws on both hot (brass screws) and neutral (silver screws). You should remove wires from the "back stabs" put a hook on them and put them under the screws.

[@CatnamedMittens]

You can back stab with modern outlets.

[@davidkiser4758]

@@CatnamedMittens The new ones are different from the ones he has. The wire actually goes under the metal tab and is tightened down with a screw. The ones in the video are held in place by tension placed on wire by a thin pieces of metal which over time can loosen and cause a short. This receptacle is an older one.

[@EmmaDee]

What if I used one of the plugs associated with the GFCI, and it made my GFCI TRIP??!

[@samash1704]

I'm not an electrician but had this thought concerning voltage drop. Measure the precise voltage at each receptacle on a circuit. The receptacle with the highest voltage is most likely the first receptacle in the circuit.

[@TopHomeowner]

Great thought! Measuring the voltage at each receptacle can give you clues about the circuit layout, as voltage drop can occur along the length of the wire due to resistance. However, the voltage differences might be very small and could be affected by several factors, such as the quality of connections and the wire itself.

[@applesbighatranch6906]

@@TopHomeowner Too, if the correct wire gauge has been used and all connections made with integrity, then there may not be any measurable voltage drop in such a short run. Cheers.

[@maurice3935]

No, no and no. If there is no load, there will be no loss and the voltage will be the same even on long runs with undersized wires. Pls guys, do no give advice if you do not have knowledge. This is dangerous.

[@ruraloregon2347]

This only works if you have a constant load on the circuit. A space heater works for this. You will see reduced voltage at the receptical with the heater. Even then, you have to measure the voltage drop between recepticals. Even that is not a sure thing due to unkown wiring issues, odd branching, and unseen loads. But it may alert you to potential wiring issues if you see an unexpected drop.

[@Stephenwc]

These are easy cases. I don't have power to *any* of the outlets . *Now* how does one find out which outlet is the first?

[@babiesinthe80s]

You might want to try getting that tester (the more complicated looking one) he referenced. It sends a signal down the line to help you find open circuits.

[@seekerstan]

Finding the circuit breaker: If you dont have a circuit breaker finder I have had good luck pluging a vacume cleaner, or radio into the outlet. As long as you can hear it from the load center you'll know when you've killed the correct one.

[@deanrhodenizer938]

I think you may have oversimplified quite a bit. When I go at an old house and need to find out everything thing on a given circuit, I normally shut the circuit down and use a toner to trace the wiring. All kinds of strange things are done with wiring during renovations where an electrician picks up power from some convenient spot and goes god knows where… Also, it is common practice in my jurisdiction to have only two wires going to every outlet by doing a junction in the box - this allows future hot swap outlet replacements without disturbing downstream loads.

[@DS-gt1ft]

EXACTLY! On a large home, we have multiple breakers for "plugs" and they go all over the house. NO way to trace it all the way back to the breaker.

[@surferdude642]

Homes built before 1970 are likely going to be the potential candidate for this task. However, even they are commonly using pigtails and they may be soldered in, making it an impractical job at best. The only solution is a GFCI breaker, if you can get one for an old electrical panel.

[@Stephenwc]

"To every outlet" : do you mean to every connection? Code *requires* that that there only be a single wire to each connector: doubling up is a thing of the past. Nuts or push connectors are needed to provide connections to 3 or more wires.

[@jerryg9581]

I thought there was supposed to be a sticker on each receptacle. Is that not right?

[@squishysquish5348]

No matter what I tried there was always at least one other outlet being powered. I tried this with every outlet and every time at least one other on the same circuit was on. I'm at a loss (trying to add gfci protection to old 1950's cloth covered wiring)

[@donm1547]

It appeared that you turned the breaker on at 2 minutes and 30 seconds not off

[@randellrounds7000]

Even though I already knew all this hopefully my landlord gets electrician over here to do it because It's my job to put money into his building or do the work myself

[@geo8rge]

Was the house originally knob and tube and the rewired in the 1950s? If so then the layout of the new wire was done to make rewiring easier.

[@garypautard1069]

Not much use for domestic UK wiring circuits. USA wiring is completely different.

[@applesbighatranch6906]

When a GFCI receptacle is used to protect any additional receptacles placed downstream, that GFCI may not necessarily be the first recep on that circuit? Is that it? We are left pondering. Thank you for an otherwise great presentation.

[@yeroca]

Yes, that's possible, but it's not common. It could happen in the case that the GFCI was installed after the home was constructed. Installed by someone who didn't know or didn't care which outlet is first in the chain.

[@tacomaster7411]

2.22 cut power off looks like on

[@MySpace662]

If there is a GFCI on that circuit, it has to be the first one on that circuit.

[@myutoob2011]

In a perfect world.