Why a single outlet in garage box?

[pdude]

Garage has electrical boxes behind sheetrock. Curious why they put a single in one part of the garage?

15A breaker controls two electrical boxes. The ceiling has a dual outlet with one connection for the Garage Door Opener. The other connection is not being used. The wall of the garage (other side is the back yard) has aa single outlet (attached picture). Previous owner probably had an adapter since next to that single outlet is the lighting control and the sprinkler control.

This was a tract housing (80's build) so I'm not thinking they ran out of dual outlets.

Rest of the house has all dual outlets.

Any ideas why they did a single vs. a dual?

 

[csp]

Are the others GFI protected?

My previous home, tract home built in 1996, had one of these and was labeled as non-GFCI and was dedicated to power for the sprinkler timer.

 

[slow]

Seen the same but for a refrigerator, old code allowed them to be non GFCI, but new code no longer allows that.

 

[PelicanPines]

Freezer or fridge... I got one too... (well, I put it there) It is also the only outlet in the garage that is NOT GFCI. It's dedicated.

 

[sberry]

The single circuit was the minimum and the rock guy gets paid when it's finished. Same for the painter and they do not care what you might do in the garage.

 

[Terry D]

Central Vac ?

 

[PelicanPines]

The single circuit was the minimum and the rock guy gets paid when it's finished. Same for the painter and they do not care what you might do in the garage.

I had to pay extra for the single plug plug... weird. I had to wire it myself. The electrician could not understand what a dedicated freezer plug was.

 

[pdude]

Thanks all for the help. I was wondering if there was a technical reason to limit that outlet to a single.

I'm going to swap it out for a dual outlet GFCI.

 

[nadogail]

Save the single in case you change your mind.

 

[yeldogt]

Garage has electrical boxes behind sheetrock. Curious why they put a single in one part of the garage?

15A breaker controls two electrical boxes. The ceiling has a dual outlet with one connection for the Garage Door Opener. The other connection is not being used. The wall of the garage (other side is the back yard) has aa single outlet (attached picture). Previous owner probably had an adapter since next to that single outlet is the lighting control and the sprinkler control.

This was a tract housing (80's build) so I'm not thinking they ran out of dual outlets.

Rest of the house has all dual outlets.

Any ideas why they did a single vs. a dual?

I would bet it was for the sprinkler control to get around the GFI rules -- if it was a double ... other items could use the second outlet.

Track builders fought for and got many little exemptions to boost profits. The up charge 4x what it should cost w/ profit to do it correctly and then do it on the cheap.

 

[Norcal]

I would bet it was for the sprinkler control to get around the GFI rules -- if it was a double ... other items could use the second outlet.

Track builders fought for and got many little exemptions to boost profits. The up charge 4x what it should cost w/ profit to do it correctly and then do it on the cheap.

Tract homes are built as cheap as they can get away with, I refuse to say they are built to minimum code.

 

[PugetDude]

Dedicated outlet for a single appliance. Fridge, Freezer, Sprinkler, Water Softener, etc. Keeps you from plugging anything else in there.

 

[PugetDude]

The single circuit was the minimum and the rock guy gets paid when it's finished. Same for the painter and they do not care what you might do in the garage.

A box is a box is a box to the sheetrocker- and the painter has nothing to do with the electrical. Why would either one of them have any influence over what devices are installed in it.