Code question: Ground wire in outlet
cork2win
16 years ago
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cork2win
16 years agopetey_racer
16 years agoRelated Discussions
Electrical code and the ground wire
Comments (13)There are several answers depending on what code you use. I just went through that. I ran a #4 copper wire from where the city water entered the house, connected it on both sides of the water meter, ran it to the transfer panel and then to the ground rods, all one piece of wire, no splices allowed. I have a whole house generator and the transfer panel is my main panel, not the breaker panels in the home. Consequently the ground bonding was done in that panel and all feeds into the home are four wire, no bonding screws in any of the panels. Code also states (depends on which one you are looking at) that we must bond gas appliances to the water pipes as well ie on a hot water heater I ran a #4 ground wire from the water inlet, to the gas pipe to the water outlet. I used a stranded #4 copper, solid would have been unmanageable to use. I have measured over 15 amps (constantly varies) coming in my cold water and gas pipe. This measurement was made with the meter removed so no source of power from my end. The cause is I have a neighbor with a bad power ground. Detroit Edison said this is normal and not to worry about it....See More2 prong to grounded outlet question
Comments (20)Congratulations on your new home! The red wire is not a ground.. This outlet appears by your pictures to be controlled by a wall switch since I see two black hot wires which are wire nutted together in the back of the box. If so, the red is a switch leg. Here is how you can solve your grounding question....go down to the basement and examine the cables which are entering your fuse or circuit breaker panel. If they are BX (metal spirals) then your metal boxes should be grounded. Get a light tester and touch one end to the metal box in the wall and the other end to the black (or red) terminal (make sure the wall swich is on, if applicable)...if the light goes on, you have a grounded system and you can install the 3 prong outlets and they will provide ground in the 3rd slot. Please note that if you have BX, you will not have a green wire to attach to the green screw on the new outlet, nor will you need one since the screws will make contact with the ground of the metal box automatically. Just a word of advice. If you truly do not need a grounded outlet, it is sometimes better to leave the old ones alone. Cloth covered wires are usually fine when left undisturbed, but when you pull them out and push them back the insulation can fall off and leave you with a bigger problem than you started with. Good luck and enjoy your new house....See MoreAbove Ground Pool Wire Questions
Comments (4)if you don't want to use conduit indoors, and local codes allow for it, then use 12/3 NM-B(romex) fromteh sub to wher it goes outside. then put a junction box and make the splices there and change over to THWN. if you are just going to run 4 #12 THWN wires, you could use 1/2" conduit. terminate to an in use or "code keeper" style box. this has a cover that will close over the cords of devices plugged in. you cannot use the regular metal/plastic outlet covers that flip open to allow access to teh outlet. it must be the in use style box. my house has those old style covers tha thave the 2 little doors you open for acces to each outlet and they are not code legal for a cord to stay plugged in. as joed said, use a GFCI double pole breaker. the fewer bends you have inteh conduit, the easier it will be to pull the wire. if you have to make several turns, you may want to go up in size of conduit for easier pulling. i am no pro, what i do is either go up one size or pull all wires to a joint, FEED THEM THRU A TURN, then assemble the joint. for jsut one or two turns this is not necessary, btu is you have a bunch of 90 degree turns it will be! they make 90's that have a removable back so you cna accomplish the same thing. for the life of me i cannot think of their name though! as far as frost sleeves and such, check with teh local codes what is required. usually conduit must be 12"-18" down, though in some areas that may differ. you don't really worry about frost so much as just getting it deep enough a casual gardener does not hit it with a shovel or tiller....See MoreHow To Connect 2 Ground Wires-1 Outlet?
Comments (93)This is a common 'trick' for large loads like motors. By bringing out more of the motor windings from the stator the device can be used at more than one operating voltage. It increases the complexity of the windings though since they must be divided into appropriate sections and then the terminals made available. The same thing s done with motors designed for 120/240 V operation (not "high voltage" at all). It has littler to do with branch circuit wiring topology. You will notice we do not have 120 V bulbs and 60 V bulbs. This is what would be required to have some portion of alighting circuit in series and some portion in parallel. I personally do not do production wiring and use crimps for much at all. You will learn to dislike them when you start doing remodeling work and are no longer doing all 'new work'. I do charge extra when I am forced to deal with remodeling that has crimp connections. Simply cutting them off is often not an option since the remaining conductor length often then violates the minimum length required from the face of the junction box. I am sure it speeds up the 'production' installers though. Right now I have a house with a built in on one side of a wall, and a tile backsplash on the other in a kitchen. I need a couple new circuits for under-cabinet lighting. It looks like I will have to go through the back of the kitchen cabinets and fish upwards to the new junction boxes in the back of the upper cabinets. At least there are no crimps present in the boxes already containing some lighting switches....See Morecork2win
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