Grounded receptacles


  #1  
Old 06-19-06, 09:00 PM
J
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Grounded receptacles

Reading this thread, http://forum.doityourself.com/showthread.php?t=267555, got me thinking about our new home's wiring. It was built in 1988 so it's not that old, but after we moved in I replaced a few receptacles that the home inspection identified as difficult - meaning tough to plug into. None of the existing receptacles (all original equipment I'm sure) had a ground wire on them, but they were all 3 prong outlets. I didn't really give it a thought, and just wired the new outlets like the old ones were and everything worked fine. (I know, I'll buy the books this weekend)...

The old receptacles didn't even have a screw for a ground wire, I don't think. The new ones I bought did, I just left them there when I taped over the wires.

Is it reasonable to think that a home built in 1988 could have grounded outlets with no ground wire in the conduit? What did they do, pay off the building inspector? :mask:

My neighbor's an electrician and one of the original settlers here, so I can ask him what the story is in his house, but I found this very confusing.
 
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Old 06-20-06, 02:04 AM
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If you have metal boxes, and a metal conduit system (emt, or mc cable) the ground can be carried to the outlet via the outlet mounting screw. For this to be acceptable the recs must be rated for this. Usually they have a metal clip that more securely attaches the mounting screw to one of the mounting holes on the device.
 
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Old 06-20-06, 05:37 AM
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A house built in 1988 should be properly grounded. The receptacles you removed were likely self grounding, meaning they get their ground when properly installed through the metal box.

However, you most likely did not replace the receptacles with self grounding ones, which creates a problem. You need to use self grounding receptacles OR use a grounding wire from the back of the metal box (where there is a spot for a ground screw) to the ground screw on the receptacle.
 
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Old 06-21-06, 09:12 PM
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Thanks for the info. The ones I used are the basic HD Leviton brand ones, and there is a single screw on the end which obviously should have a ground wire attached to it -- I just didn't know it was such a big deal.

I'll pop one off and see if there is a spot for a screw. Then it's just a matter of buying some wire, cutting to length, putting a screw in the back of the metal box, and run the ground, right?

Is there some way I can test to make sure my boxes are actually set up properly grounded? I have a plug-in receptacle tester that I used to check each one before and after I replaced it.
 
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Old 06-22-06, 04:13 AM
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You can buy pre-made grounding wires with screw attached that screw into the small hole in the back of the metal box. They sell them at the bog box stores.

To determine proper grounding you can use a two wire tester on the wires. The wires have to be hot, so be careful. test between the hot wire (the black one) and the neutral wire (the white one). Then test between the hot wire and the metal box. The light on the tester should be the same brightness for each test.
 
 

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