I'm currently in the process of finishing a bedroom in my basement.

All of the outlets in my basement currently are wired using older 2-wire ungrounded cable, with the rigid medal conduit serving as the equipment ground.

The metal conduit currently runs on the bottom of the 2x12's at the basement ceiling. Because of height limitations, I want to attach my finished ceiling directly to the 2x12s without having to drop the ceiling.

The easiest way to do this would be to remove the conduit from the area I'm finishing and run the existing wiring between the joists. Removing a portion of conduit, however, would break the ground.

So my question is, can I 'terminate' the conduit at a metal box, run a 3-conductor grounded cable through the ceiling of the area I'm finishing, and then reconnect to the conduit on the other side? So basically, I'd have metal conduit to the boxes on either side of the room, with a regular copper ground wire connecting the two boxes. I don't see any reason why this wouldn't work from a grounding standpoint, but I'm not sure if it goes against some aspect of code.

The area I am finishing will be on a separate, normal 3-conductor grounded circuit... but I don't want to mess up the grounding for the rest of the basement.

Appreciate any insight. I'm trying to avoid having to re-route all of the conduit in the basement.

 

Suppose you left it in tact, added a nailer to the joist, for the drywall & used wire mold to cover the conduit? That way you don't have to touch the conduit.

 

It's an option if it comes down to it. But the conduit takes up an inch, and so it's still going to extend beyond the drywall. There's also a junction box that I would have to deal with (pic). If I can remove the conduit from that area, I can move the junction outside of the finished area.

 

Are you saying that you have a two conductor cable inside the conduit or two individual wires ?

 

First of all, you have EMT (aka thinwall) conduit and not rigid conduit. The easiest thing to do would be to furr the joists down and leave the conduit intact.

 

It's a two-conductor cable.

 

Joe, thanks for the clarification on the EMT. I know the 'easiest' solution would be to fur down an inch... but that would take me from what will already be an 81" ceiling to an 80" ceiling. If it comes down to it I'll do it, but I was hoping for a code-related argument to 'talk me out of' my original plan.

 

If you mean a code-related argument against removing the conduit, I cannot help you because you can remove the conduit from the edge of the floor joists and connect the remaining sections of the conduit system with NM cable with ground as long as the grounding conductor properly bonds the sections of the remaining conduit system together.

 

The cable with ground can jumper between the two sections of conduit. Use metal boxes and bond the new cable ground to the boxes. Keep all junctions accessible.

 

Are you in Milwaukee? If so does code permit cable?