GFCI on outlet or circuit breaker?

Question

I'm getting ready to wire my garage as part of converting it into an aquarium room (I'll have about 50 or 60 fish tanks in there). This will all be "new work"-- there has been no wiring in the garage until now.

I've been reading up on what I will need, and I understand that I will need circuits with ground fault interrupters (GFCI) on them, both because the codes require this for garages and because I'm going to have a lot of water in mine (comparable to having GFCIs in a bathroom, I guess).

I know that there are two basic kinds of GFCI that I can install. One way is to have each outlet contain a built-in GFCI (that's what I usually see in bathrooms). But there are also circuit breakers for the panel box that have built-in GFCIs. As far as I can see, they do the same thing as having a GFCI on each outlet does.

Here's what I want to know: Is there some advantage to doing it one way or the other? Would it be safer to have GFCI on the breakers in the box, or on each outlet, or does it not matter? Would there be any advantage to using both kinds together?

This setup will have a lot of outlets (maybe about 75). There will be a lot of electrical devices, mainly low-wattage ones like air pumps and aquarium power filters (and some fluorescent and/or LED lights). So it would be cheaper to have the GFCI on the circuit breakers instead of on each outlet (outlets without GFCI are much cheaper than those with it). But if that isn't safe, of course, it's out of the question.

Honey · Accepted Answer

There is no advantage that I can think of for using both GFCI breakers and outlets.

With the very large number of outlets you're planning, your cheaper route seems to be going with the GFCI breakers, which then give you protection right from the panel which could be an advantage should a rodent nibble on some of the wire insulation.

Incidentally, if you do choose to go with the GFCI outlets, you do not have to install a GFCI outlet at every location -- only the first one on each circuit.  If you wire it correctly, all outlets downstream from the first GFCI will also be protected.  Most GFCIs come with a schematic drawing showing  the correct wiring.

helgeson · Answer

Breaker Outlet

Anonymous · Answer

Honey is right about the  GFCI receptacle placement. You only need 1 at the beginning of the circuit. If your service panel isn't located in the garage as well, I'd suggest putting in a sub panel. This gets it's power from your main panel, and allows you to have the sub-panel in the garage for easy access. The other thing you need to do before any wiring is run, is to figure out your layout. To start with you need to calculate how many lights, heaters, air pumps, etc. a single circuit can handle. Otherwise you may end up overloading a circuit which would be an obvious problem.

Jim W · Answer

Do not use both a gfi breaker and  an outlet on the same circuit.  That just causes both to trip when there is no reason for it.  Either one is good, both are not.  Your choice from there.

Anonymous · Answer

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GFCI on outlet or circuit breaker?
I&#39;m getting ready to wire my garage as part of converting it into an aquarium room (I&#39;ll have about 50 or 60 fish tanks in there). This will all be &quot;new work&quot;-- there has been no wiring in the garage until now.

I&#39;ve been reading up on what I will need, and I understand that...

GFCI on outlet or circuit breaker?

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