Split Receptacles In Kitchen

Hi all, this is my first post, so...my kitchen was just renovated and the electrical outlets are on the walls and I wanted them in plugmold under the cabinet. Why didn't it happen?  Long story, but I'm doing it myself now.  The electrical receptacles are on 2 separate circuits with a gfci receptacle on each and neither circuit has a receptacle outside the kitchen where I can put the gfci's, so I'm putting gfci breakers in the panel instead. I've run into a different problem on each circuit that'd like some advice on.



Circuit 1: this is a 20 amp circuit.  I have to plug this circuit's neutral wire into the gfci breaker, but I couldn't see which neutral wire matched the hot wire (buried in mess of wires) and I don't have a continuity tester so I just pulled one neutral at a time (tedious) until the circuit failed, but it never failed. So I did this again for every neutral...same result. This circuit shares a few boxes with other circuits so I'm wondering if the neutrals on different circuits are tied together somewhere, and if so I'm pretty sure, but not completely, that that's not going to work with the gfci breaker.  So I didn't install that gfci breaker since I'm not confident it would actually gfci (yep i verbified gfci).  What do you think?



Circuit 2:  this is a 20 amp circuit.  This circuit currently has the refrigerator, gas stove and range hood, and then a gfci in front of 3 electrical receptacles, which already sounds bad since I thought the kitchen receptacles required 2 dedicated circuits. I replaced that breaker with no problem, but it tripped after a few minutes and continued to trip every few minutes. I haven't changed anything else on that circuit yet and it's never tripped before, but now it is, so I put the old breaker back for now. The current gfci receptacle is only protecting the 3 outlets since the appliances are ahead of it. I know you wouldn't normally want the appliances gfci protected, so do you think the refrigerator motor may be a problem?  Do I need the appliances on a separate circuit?  What would you suggest I do?



Thanks, and if you're wondering "why all the effort?", it's partly because I'm meddlesome, partly because I'm bored, and partly because the backsplash tile is to be on showcase, not the electrical receptacles.
      

Is there any limitation as to how many receptacles can be protected by one GFCI receptacle?  For example, can I start the circuit with a GFCI and have another 8 receptacles downstream from it?
      

New appliances coming in. No change in service, so I believe that existing wiring can be considered grandfathered. Please correct me if wrong. BTW: we're under 2005 code in my locality, but I go with 2008.



Currently, the kitchen is wired all 15-amp except for non-counter-top receptacles. (I know, opposite, and wrong, but that's the way it is)





Can dishwasher and disposal be on same 15 amp circuit? (This will be a new circuit, so perhaps I need to run 20-amp?)


Current range wiring is 3-wire on a 40 amp breaker (3-pole). Can I still utilize a 3-prong receptacle here?


Does the kitchen wiring have to be upgraded to provide for 2 SABC (currently, only 1), and 20 amp?



      

when installing 3 split recepticles in conduit can the neutral be shared
      

How long would you expect to take to replace 5 receptacles in one room, if you were by yourself (no helper)? The task is to simply replace the receptacles and switches with new ones, but upon inspection, you find that though the system is grounded through an unknown property (either conduit or AC), thee is no EGC wire for attachment to the metal box; you'd therefore (I assume) want to run a 6" piece of wire for the ECG from receptacle to box.



I assume the extra bare wire here as I don't believe the receptacle yoke should be relied upon to provide a solid bond.
      

I completed my whole house rewire last Fall (took 2 years and severely tested my wife's patience). I read 5 wiring books in the early stages but read Rex Cauldwell's Wiring a House with his above code suggestions near the end of the project and now im obsessing about some of the stuff I didnt do. What do you guys think of some of the suggestions, specifically,



1. Driving 8 ground rods and the wire must be continuous (I drove 4 but the #6 copper wire from the panel to rod 1 is 1 wire and the #6 wire from rod 1 through rod 4 is another wire but both are properly clampled to rod 1 with an acord clamp). Funny, even with 4 rods there is almost no current through the rods versus 2-3 amps through the traditional cold water pipe ground



2. 1 circuit for each duplex receptacle in bathrooms. Since I have a quad in each of the batchrooms, that would be 4 circuits instead of 1 (code allows an unlimited number of bathroom receptacles on one circuit which does seem odd)



3. Nothing shared with kitchen counter receptacles (ie kitchen wall and dining room on their own)



4. Dedicated circuits for everything - I added dedicted circuit for fridge, microwave and dishwasher/disposer, but did not separate the dishwasher disposer onto 2 circuits. There used to be what I called "Circuit X" which did kitchen counter, microwave, dishwasher, disposer, fridge, 2 kitchen counter outlets, dining room and 1 outside outlet. Wife frequently blew that one. Circuit X was divided into at least 5 circuits during the rewire



5. No switch loops - did 5 of these to save on carpentry/avoid certain box fill problems. Now 2011 code says no switch loops without a neutral. Oops?



Just wondering what you guys think.
      

i have just installed 4 cans controlled by a dimmer switch using 14/2 wire and plan to hook into a 15A circuit. The easiest wire for me to hook into this circuit is on the load side of a receptacle that goes to another receptacle. can I cut the wire that goes between receptacles and split the hot wire so it goes to the new recessed cans ( same for the white wire) and then on to the receptacle as previous?

Thanks

Tom
      

updating an older home (1927) and would like to replace all the receptacles/switches/plates with newer Lutron style white switches, where is the best place to order these or pick them up?  Not sure if its worth shopping online or if the big box convenience negates cost difference?

Thanks!
      

Hello.



I recently purchased a home that has a a new grounded breaker panel but none of the outlets themselves are grounded save the hvac system in the basement. I had an electrician come and he said the fastest way to get it done is to switch the appropriate breakers to GFCI breakers in my service box and then I can change the outlets and then just put the stickers that say ungrounded etc on the new 3 prong receptacles. he called the inspector to double check and the inspector told him that he can't do it this way but he needs to find the first outlet in the loop from each breaker line and change that receptacle to a gfci and then we can change each receptacle to 3 prong in that loop.



Wouldn't just changing the breaker do the same thing? also if I did just install a Gfci receptacle on the first outlet in the loop, if it breaks wouldn't the rest of the outlets behind that gfci not function until I replaced the Gfci outlet where as a breaker would just pop and I can simply go turn it back on?



Just wanted to get some opinion from the experts as I'm willing to spend more on doing gfci breakers and am confused as to why the inspector suggested the way he did



Thanks for any help!
      

just wondering if someone can give me a quick answer.  I currently have 7 receptacles and 3 lights on one circuit.  the receptacles are in the living room and the lights are in the basement.  I have just installed 6 recessed lights in the living room. does anyone think that that is too much to add to the circuit.  not much gets plugged in in the living room    T.V.  couple of lamps dvd player, occasional vacuum cleaner.