Was it inspected? It should have been before all the switches and receptacles were installed. You install crimps.

Our AHJ requires crimping, so very easy to fix that way. Just undo the long end of the ground wire, slip on a copper sleeve to cover all the twisted wires and crimp. The all purpose electricians tool has a crimping feature.

Just twisting is NOT valid. You need to use some listed connector typically either a crimp or wire nut. As Hendricus points out, local custom may pose additional restrictions.

What do you mean he cut the ones not needed?

Ron, I probably worded that incorrectly. Let me give you an example: A three gang box (plastic) with three 2 pole switches only has three spots to tie the grounds to. But the box inself may have 4,5 or more grounds depending on what comes in and what goes out. So my friend took all the grouds, gave them a whole bunch of twists, but left three ground wires long which are tied to switches. So when I said he cut the ones not needed, I really meant they are cut after the twist and left short. I went to home depot today and bought a box of the greenies and two different sized buchanan crimps and a pair of pliers with a built in crimper. For all the outlets, I will be able to just unscrew ground wire from outlet and just slide a greenie on there and twist it together. But for the applications where more than one ground gets tied down, I'll have to use the crimp method. It's just going to take me a long time to go thru entire house and do this to every outlet/switch!

Grounds (conductors without a load) won't be flexing so the twists won't come loose like they might if it were neutrals just twisted together without wirenuts.

Your friend did it wrong simply because he didn't slip a crimp barrel over the splice he made. Everything else he did was fine.

However, in the end it really won't make a difference, so don't pull your hair out trying to fix it. I know that statement will hurt the ears of every code compliant person here but it's still the truth.

It didn't hurt My ears. Just twisting the grounds tightly was done for years until a code change declared crimping would be a better way. I have seen many a crimp that caused me to be more concerned than tightly twisted grounds. I think the crimps came about when plastic boxes were approved and there were no ground lugs in the box. It may have also come about when aluminum wire was used in which case I would insist on crimping over twisting.

"Grounds (conductors without a load) won't be flexing so the twists won't come loose like they might if it were neutrals just twisted together without wirenuts."

It has nothing to do with flexing.

Listed connection provide a gas tight connection that is stable against thermal cycling.

Every time the temperature changes the wires expand and contract, and while current carrying conductors are heated by the current they carry, the ground will be heated by proximity in the box they are installed in.

Permanent electrical wiring must not only work now, but for many years and thermal cycles.

Screwing up grounds is also a real safety hazard, one you are not likely to find until the actual moment you need the grounding conductor.

The national code doesn't require crimps (local codes may) but it does require some listed connection.

Brickeye is 100% right.

Aluminum wire has it's OWN set of challenges. You better hope your crimping technology is listed for Aluminum conductors.

Brickeye, ronnatalie,

You guys are 100% correct in your code requirements. Let's face it, if you are going to do the job, you need to do it right. But what is right and what is "righter". Yes, it is true there is expansion and contraction. But copper tightly twisted to copper in a residential situation will not expand and contract to such extremes as to come untwisted, as would happen to dissimilar metals and compromise the effect of grounding. The inside of the nut isn't always copper and I've seen situations where the wire nut came loose if it wasn't backed up with tape as required in some situations. It still didn't compromise the grounding qualities.

IMHO, In this particular case and application, I don't think the OP needs to go back and redo every box. He should inform his friend of his shortcoming so he can go one step further when he does wiring in the future. Everyone who has electricity that was installed before 1975 would then have to be advised to do the same thing. I feel that if for any reason he should need to go into any of the boxes, he should do the extra step.

"But copper tightly twisted to copper in a residential situation will not expand and contract to such extremes as to come untwisted, as would happen to dissimilar metals and compromise the effect of grounding. The inside of the nut isn't always copper and I've seen situations where the wire nut came loose if it wasn't backed up with tape as required in some situations. It still didn't compromise the grounding qualities."

It does not have to come untwisted to render the ground ineffective.
The lack of a gas tight connection means that corrosion can occur between the adjacent wires and create a high impedance connection.

Every one of the shoddy boxes should be reworked with an approved device (wire nut, crimp, or any other device that is accepted for making connections).

It sounds like your friend learned from someone who did work quite a while ago. I know my dad showed me to just twist the grounds. That is how he had learned it, so that is how he taught me.

Of course, that doesn't really matter to the inspector. Code is code. A mechanical fastener is safer than just twisting. You can argue that it is 1% safer of 50% safer, but that doesn't really matter. Any work you do should follow code whether you consider the code reasonable or not.

Personally, I've never lived in a new home with 100% up to the minute code compliant wiring. Right now, I own a 100 year old house and some twisted grounds would be welcome compared to the open slices I've found in walls! However, if you are doing new work, you need to pull the appropriate permits, follow code, and pass inspection. It really isn't worth the risk of losing everything you own when your home insurance refuses to pay out due to the non-permitted work.

A wire nut in itself is not going to give a gas tight connection. As I said before, many of those wire nuts are prone to loosening if not backed up with tape. If a residential installation has an extreme situation where the twisted ground are corroding, you can bet they have bigger problems that would surface before the twisted grounds failed. BTW, copper oxide does conduct electricity.

I won't argue against additional precautions or codes. I will say the OP should not worry himself sick over this, it is not as critical as it is being made out to be. If it were, millions of homes in the US would be required by their insurance company to upgrade in order to renew. It's true, insurance companies do give a discount on homes over 40 years old that have electrical upgrades, but it's not that much. You can bet if it were a problem, it would be a requirement. BTW, Homeowners insurance will pay for homeowner stupidity. They normally do not pay for code upgrades when settling. I doubt a $25.00 bag of wire nuts would be an issue though.

He's not building a 40 year old house. He's building a current house. We've learned some things over time.

No TAPE is required for wire nuts to work.

Approved connection methonds have been required in all the jurisdictions I've worked in the 30+ years I've been working in the industry.

"They normally do not pay for code upgrades when settling."

Normally they do. In most homeowner policies there is a built in "law and ordinance" coverage that is in effect up to a percentage of the policy limit. This coverage is specifically for upgrades that are required by code due to a covered loss.

All of that aside the bottom line of this dicussion is that it is required to use some sort of a connection on ground wires. It is not up to debate on whether or not it is accepable in this particular situation to use them or not - a form of approved connection must be used - period.

"A wire nut in itself is not going to give a gas tight connection."

AS a matter of fact, a correctly installed wire nut does provide a gas tight connection.
The sharp edges of the metal insert cut into the wire, and the spring action holds the metal together so tight that the joint between the metals is gas tight.
Corrosion will not form at the joint (though it can at the edges of the metal to metal contact) since the gas cannot get between the wire and the spring threaded element.

The same thing happens with a correctly applied crimp, though the force required to crimp is much larger vs. the mechanical advantage of screw threads.

Let's face it, any time someone wants to hold another persons feet to the fire, they'll point to a code. There's almost a code or law for everything. So if we're rubbing a nose into the fact a code has been breached, ok, there's no argument there. If we are saying not using a wire nut joining multiple grounds is a highly dangerous situation in which the OP must go into an emergency replacement situation, you know as well as I do, putting technicalities aside, it just isn't so. The OP should NOT be pulling their hair out over this.

No one said tape was required to make it work. What was said is there are situations where tape backup is required and that being in some commercial and industrial applications.

JMV, It may be a regional thing about paying for code upgrades. My State Farm policy specifically states some code upgrades may not be covered.

I won't dispute using a wire nut on the ground wires should have been done with the new wiring but if the wires were tightly wound, it won't cause a problem. Heck, every telephone connection in the country at the telephone office is wire wrapped around a connection post on a terminal strip and conductivity seldom is a problem.

I won't even get into credentials, and education and certifications and all that crap. I will say if anyone has been at this stuff long enough, they know where the real problems are and where striking fear into someone over minutia are.

If a wire nut requires tape to function correctly and not loosen up, it isn't installed correctly. Simple as that. In fact, installing tape on a wire nut often creates a situation where moisture collects in the connection - hardly a benefit.

No, the place won't burn down right now if the issue isn't addressed. On the other hand, it would be a bit of a bummer if somebody just happened to be grabbing veggies out of the frige while touching the sink when one of the illegal ground connections failed at the same time the frige frame became hot from a failure. That these things do happen is why grounding is required, and required to be done with approved connectors.

FWIW, TEL CO type wire wrap connections are gas tight. They require special tools, the wrapping posts are fairly precisely sized, and the wire is made for the purpose. There is absolutely no comparison between TEL CO wire wrap techniques and a bunch of ground wires twisted together in a box.

The bottom line is that there is a right way to do things and a wrong way to do things. In this particular situation the grounds are not made up properly and need to re-done in a correct manner.

Just because something may "work" right now or may "work" in a particular situation does not make it right. What is the difference between improperly connecting the ground wires and wiring some light fixtures using extension cords inside of the wall while not using any type of boxes?

We all know that this would allow the lights to "work" so why not just let it slide since after all, there is not going to be any load on the in-wall extension cords other than a couple 60-watt bulbs.

"Heck, every telephone connection in the country at the telephone office is wire wrapped around a connection post on a terminal strip and conductivity seldom is a problem."

And there is 48 VDC present 100% of the tie with current flowing.
And all the wraps on posts in a CO ARE gas tight.
The tool used to wrap the wires ensures that the corners of the post dig into the wire to make the gas tight connection.

"If we are saying not using a wire nut joining multiple grounds is a highly dangerous situation in which the OP must go into an emergency replacement situation, you know as well as I do, putting technicalities aside, it just isn't so. The OP should NOT be pulling their hair out over this."

It is not an immediate emergency, but every connection should be done correctly.
the risk of needing a good ground connection and finding out it was not there is a real hazard.

"I won't even get into credentials, and education and certifications and all that crap. I will say if anyone has been at this stuff long enough, they know where the real problems are and where striking fear into someone over minutia are."

Said the person who does not understand gas tight connections.
The code is a minimum standard, and you do not even think that should be obeyed.

Ok, it's obvious you're going to look for a way to disagree with anything I say even with cheap shots so I'm going to agree that we disagree and leave it at that.

If you're going to persist in giving information that is erroneous and unsafe, you can darn well expect to be called on it. It's not a cheap shot.

Has anyone considerd sodering the joints. Wouldn’t that make a better connection?

Solder, while technically legal if you do it right, has problems of its own. Best to just use a wirenut or crimp.