Line or load with ground fault circuit interrupter

 

Line connection

The line connection is the point where you connect the incoming feeder cable (also called a line) that is fed from the home's electrical panel. The line connection is used for all ground fault circuit interrupter receptacle installations. The hot wire of the circuit (usually black or red) is connected to the black or brass screw terminal labeled LINE. The white neutral wire is connected to the silver colored screw terminal labeled LINE.

The line and load markings are normally printed on the back of the plastic housing of the socket. The line terminals are easy to see because they are not hidden when you remove the outlet from the manufacturer's packaging.

Load connection

The load terminals are usually not visible when you take the RCD outlet out of its packaging, as they are covered by a strip of tape (usually yellow in color). The load connection is available to supply additional standard (non-RCD) outlets after the RCD location to provide protection from the RCD. In other words, any standard outlet that is supplied from the load side of the RCD is also protected from a ground fault by the RCD.

The advantage of this is that you only need to buy one RCD when you connect additional outlets to the same circuit, rather than buying one RCD for each outlet. Standard sockets are much cheaper than RCDs. The disadvantage is that if there is a ground fault in one of these additional outlets, the RCD will trip. If the RCD is located far away, in another room, or outdoors, it may be difficult to reset the RCD and restore power to all outlets.

Using the load connection requires two cables in the RCD control box. One is the power cable that connects to the LINE terminals of the RCD. The other cable connects to the LOAD terminals to pass power to additional outlets and other devices in the circuit. As with the line connections, the hot wire of the load cable is connected to the black or brass colored terminal on the outlet.

Ground connection

The grounding screw of a ground fault circuit interrupter is always green and is located at one end of the outlet body. This is where the bare or green colored ground wire is connected. If the circuit breaker box is metal (not plastic), you will need to connect two pigtails (short pieces of wire) to the circuit ground wires and connect one pigtail to the outlet ground screw and one to the metal box. If the circuit wiring does not include a ground wire, the RCD will not be affected and will operate as designed, but the outlet will not be grounded. The RCD is not the same as grounding.

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