grounding, open ground receptacles


  #1  
Old 03-06-05, 09:04 AM
mark1234
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grounding, open ground receptacles

I need to know if there is any way to ground open ground receptacles without replacing the outlets with the standard polarized receptacles?
The problem i'm having is the wiring in this house is older, when grounding apparently wasnt a big deal , all the wiring for the outlets have the ground wire cut off, and not attached to the grounding terminal, subsequently i went thru and screwed a ground pigtail into each metal box and grounded the outlets, but it still reads open ground on the tester.
if i remove the ground wire for each of the 15 amp circuits at the service panel that designates them as outlets will this work as the outlets will still be grounded or should i just put in the two prong outlets and possibly rewire the house at a later date? I'm looking for the safest cheapest route?
 
  #2  
Old 03-06-05, 11:51 AM
R
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The safest thing to do is to rewire the receptacles with new cable that includes a ground.

The second safest thing to do is to add a ground wire so that the receptacles are grounded via a new wire that is run. Run this wire from the main panel to each receptacle. Attach the wire to the metal box and to the ground screw on the receptacle.

The third safest thing to do is to replace the receptacles with two prong receptacles that do not have provide a ground.

Another safe option is to install GFCI protection. It can be in the form of individual GFCI receptacles at each location, a GFCI circuit breaker, or one or more GFCI receptacles properly placed and wired so that GFCI protection is provided to each receptacle on the circuit. You must mark all the three prong receptacles as "No Equipment Ground" if you install GFCI protection but no ground.

Do not use any ungrounded receptacles for electronic equipment that needs a ground to function properly.
 
 

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