I'm doing a fairly substantial rewire of about half my house. In many places, like kitchen, bath, and outside/garage, I've replaced circuit breakers in my box with GFCI or dual function breakers. Now I have outlets in damp/wet locations that are GFCI protected, but aren't GFCI devices themselves. They were GFCI outlets, but I've replaced them with normal receptacles after upgrading the CB.

Is there any required labeling, similar to the "no equipment ground" stickers you see sometimes? Or are these receptacles still required to be actual GFCI devices, even though the entire circuit is protected? (This doesn't make sense, but I've heard of sillier things). Of course, the inspector will tell me when they come out, but I'd rather get it right the first time.

  • Apologies if it seems like a weird/pedantic question, just everything I find online is geared to a diy-er, and I'm looking for a more precise answer.
    – nexus_2006
    Apr 13 '19 at 15:02

Outlets protected by an upline GFCI require a GFCI Protected marking. Several stickers come with every GFCI device.

You will never see a Code requirement for a GFCI receptacle. You can satisfy all Code requirements with GFCI+breaker combo devices, or plain GFCI (deadfront) devices.

Putting a GFCI+receptacle combo device on a circuit already GFCI protected is silly. You are playing a "Yo Dawg" joke on yourself.

Some very dull home inspectors will insist that nothing less than a GFCI receptacle will do, because he needs to see the TEST and RESET buttons. However, that guy is right if there is no GFCI Protected sticker.

  • Thanks. This is exactly what I suspected, and also what logic suggests, but every article I saw about, for example, outdoor receptacles says "and make sure you use a GFCI receptacle" so I wanted to confirm. Also didn't know if the inspector would freak when it's just a regular receptacle and I tell them "yeah it's protected upstream don't worry", so now I know I need the stickers.
    – nexus_2006
    Apr 13 '19 at 23:44
  • Do you know what the motivation is behind requiring these stickers? I can understand their necessity when combined with a "no equipment ground" sticker, but on their own, they just seem like a needless implementation detail.
    – Alexander
    Nov 12 '19 at 14:49
  • @Alexander a) inspection, and b) to keep you from going "oh noes, this outlet is not GFCI protected" and sticking a GFCI receptacle there. Nov 12 '19 at 16:17
  • @Harper Haha otherwise you end up like this guy diy.stackexchange.com/questions/178088/…
    – Alexander
    Nov 12 '19 at 16:18
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    @Alexander: If an outlet has such a sticker but doesn't supply any power, that suggests strongly that there's a GFCI somewhere that's tripped and one should look for it. Without such a sticker, the lack of power might be interpreted implying a bad connection somewhere.
    – supercat
    Jan 7 at 22:51

This is a weird "unwritten requirement"

Other than 406.4(D)(2)(b)/(c), which govern the use of GFCIs as retrofits when no equipment grounding conductor is present, there actually is no direct Code requirement for "GFCI Protected" labeling on protected receptacles "downstream" of the GFCI. Some inspectors, though, treat this as a 110.3(B) listing/instructions issue even though the White Book pages for UL category KCXS do not discuss this either, so you're safest labeling these.

However, there's a better option than those silly stickers

The stickers, though, are not the greatest solution for labeling: they're not exactly coordinated with one's decor, and also have an annoying habit of falling off, which means they couldn't be a Code-required marking means as they would otherwise violate 110.21(B) point 2 due to their lack of permanence:

(2) The label shall be permanently affixed to the equipment or wiring method and shall not be handwritten.

As a result, a better choice here would be to use a permanently factory marked faceplate such as a P&S TP8GFI. This way, the labeling won't come off or get peeled off, and it will fit better with the room's surroundings.


I don't know if it's current code, but my house has many outlets that are wired from remote GFCI breakers or receptacles (there are usually protected outlet terminals on GFCI sockets that allow chaining). They are all marked with "GFCI PROTECTED OUTLET" labels, they often come with new receptacles.


At least according to the CSPC, and old version of code I could find, yes, it's required to label the protected outlets as "GCFI PROTECTED OUTLET". Plus, part of code requires that you install devices according to the manufacturer's instructions, and the instructions for GFCI outlets, at least, require you to place stickers on protected outlets further on the circuit. I don't know what the instructions for the breakers you used are.

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