I need an explanation of why not to bootleg grounds on recepts. I need to word it in a fashion as to why it isnt acceptable,, alternate paths,, etc. I just heard advice given elsewhere that a bootleg ground is better than none at all, which I dissagree with.

 

Tell us what you mean by bootleg ground. Most "bootleg" grounds are illegal, depending on what YOU consider "bootleg"

 

I am well aware they are illegal, that was my point. What I mean is jumping the grounded conductor to the grounding terminal on a common duplex recpt.

 

I have no idea why someone would want to do that, especially if the yolk of the recept is actually connected to a ground path, but maybe this article will help. It describes neutral to case bonds, the good, bad and ugly.
http://ecmweb.com/ar/electric_key_ma...er_2/index.htm

 

sberry, here's my argument in a nutshell.

Suppose you have some appliance that uses a three-prong plug (e.g., a refrigerator or a computer). Now further suppose that that appliance is plugged into a receptacle with a bootleg ground (i.e., grounding hole on the receptacle is connected to the neutral wire). Now suppose that neutral wire becomes disconnected someday, at any point between this receptacle and the panel. Any regular reader of this forum knows that open neutral problem are reported on this forum every day. They are quite common.

When that neutral opens, the case of the appliance will now have a full 120 volts on it. This happens since the case is connected to the ground wire, and the ground wire is connected to the neutral at the receptacle, and the neutral wire is connected to the hot wire through the load and there is no voltage drop through the load since no current is flowing. The breaker will not trip.

Next person who touches the case of that appliance is seriously injured or dead, depending on the resistance of their skin and how well they are grounded.

A bootleg ground is far more dangerous than no ground at all.

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks John and Ron,,, I just lacked the wording and a good example. P.s. Ron,,, that link was just what I was looking for also. John, I used your example on another site but credit you with it. Thanks. We had someone implying that that was a good alternative for old 2 wire systems and I needed to add some legitimate opinion besides my own 2 cents as to why that was unacceptable.

 

sberry,
can you clue us in on that other site? I like to visit them all but I'm not sure I know that one.
Thanks.. Brian

 

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