grounding an outlet


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Old 12-17-10, 06:56 PM
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grounding an outlet

A home inspection found several open grounded outlets in my father-in-laws home....the house is approx 100years old...houses has been upgraded with a new panel with a mix of bx and romex....some of the open grounded outlets have ground wires and some do not...I added a ground wire to the box and to the outlet and it still tested open....what are my alteratives short of running new wires to the panel..Thanks for the help....
 
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Old 12-17-10, 07:10 PM
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A gfi with a sticker that reads:"gfi protected outlet no egc"
 
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Old 12-17-10, 07:47 PM
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Justin, tell them where to put the gfci in relation to the receptacles. Too little information leaves them confused, and makes us have to go expound on your answer.
 
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Old 12-18-10, 07:25 AM
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is this my only option? have around 7 or 8 outlets that have a open ground reading on three or four circuits....would it be better to put a gfci breaker in the panel for ea circuit that requires it?....would it be acceptable to install 2 prong ungrounded outlets in...any other options?
 
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Old 12-18-10, 07:46 AM
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Installing 2 prong receptacles is simplest. Installing a GFCI breaker is probably as simple maybe cheaper given the probable cost of 2 prong receptacles. A single GFCI receptacle can provide protection to down stream receptacles if you can find the first receptacle. In all cases where GFCI protection is used all receptacles would have to be labeled "no ground". Labels usually come with the GFCI.

First I'd look for the last receptacle on the circuit , if any, that had a working ground and see if I could figure out why the next one doesn't read grounded.
 
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Old 12-18-10, 07:58 AM
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a gfi would go at the first receptacle in the circut. a gfi breaker is rather expensive, about $65 for a square D breaker.
 
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Old 12-18-10, 08:15 AM
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last question....would the gfci breaker or gfci outlet solve my open ground with the home inspector...he checked outlet with a three prong tester with three lights......would the tester still read open ground and if so would the gfci protected with no ground labels be sufficent....thanks
 
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Old 12-18-10, 08:28 AM
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It will not fix the open groundl, but it will follow nec requirements.
 
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Old 12-18-10, 01:19 PM
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Originally Posted by ThomasB
last question....would the gfci breaker or gfci outlet solve my open ground with the home inspector...he checked outlet with a three prong tester with three lights......would the tester still read open ground and if so would the gfci protected with no ground labels be sufficent....thanks
It's hard telling what would solve your problem with the house inspector as most of them know very little about the NEC anyway. Using a GFI as previously described and then changing the remaining grounded receptacles with no ground to 2 wire ungrounded receptacles would be your best bet.
 
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Old 12-19-10, 06:43 AM
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I would prefer the gfi option, because i could actually plug in a grounded plug, which i personally have alot of.
 
 

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