So you thought my post was a waste of time but yet you respond with a pointless question. If i didnt think it would help i wouldnt have posted it. You cited 2 areas in the code book that dont really help with what was asked. I was in the middle of an arguement with an arrogant journeyman and was looking for something to back up the use of wire nuts to pigtail the grounds and this thread didnt help. I already found what you had cited and it didnt help. Later i found 250.8 and decided to add it to thread to possibly help someone else down the road. As old as it is, it still comes up when the subject is searched. Thats 5 min. of my life I'll never get back.... I'm done.

"The quality of the ground should be verified with a ground tester to ensure the ground path can carry sufficient current to trip the breaker. What is a ground tester? Is it something I can get and can actually be used by someone who doesn't really have any electrical training? " Absolutely not. Even many electricians are not equipped to effectively test this. It is more a visual check than anything." The first thing to do is visually check for the presence of a grounding conductor, or the use of AC, MC, or metal conduit. 1960 is old enough that NM (non-metallic) sheathed cable was in use, but the grounding (bare or green) conductor was no uniformly required. Initially grounding conductors even were allowed to use a smaller gauge of wire (around #18 solid). Thee grounding conductors can sometimes be found wrapped around cable clamps on the outside of boxes. Some folks had no idea what to do with them. AC (armor clad/cased) provides grounding through the metal armor and a thin bonding strip n side the cable. You will notice AC cable clamps have a set screw and make a solid connection to the armor. MC cable normally has a run ground wire since the bonding strip is not present. Metal conduit can also provide a grounding path. If you want to test for grounds at least use a 60 watt light bulb and a pair of leads. If the bulb lights brightly between hot and ground the ground is carrying 0.5 amps. A meter or receptacle tester is only using a few milliamps of current. Larger electrician shops that do commercial work may have a bond tester that can be used to verify grounding connections. They cost a few thousand dollars and see use in larger structures to verify that the ground in some remote corner of a building is still adequate. There are ways to rig up suitable loads to check ground capacity, and I had a setup like that before purchasing a full up bond tester. It has also seen use in checking lightning damaged electrical installations along with a megger and a TDR (Time Domain Reflectometer, radar on a wire) to find insulation damage and cable breaks.

It's more ROCKET SCIENCE than you appear to be want to give it now. Your questions were so inanely basic, that you obviously haven't even begun to do the research that you need to do this job SAFELY and LEGALLY. I can't explain to you the entire ARTICLE 680 (and by reference 250 and 300) in a few news postings. If you can't be bothered to actually do what I suggested and go read and learn Article 680 (and the prerequisite sections of the code) and you are too pigheaded to get a professional in there, GOD HAVE MERCY ON YOUR POOR FAMILY. As I mentioned earlier, we LOSE people in pool wiring screw ups several times a year. This is no place for cocky know it alls.

It's a hazard and so blatantly wrong, that if you're even considering it you have no business even taking coverplates off. 250.130 would be a good place to start but it's probably in violation of a ton of other articles as well. About the only time you can use the grounded conductor to carry the equipment ground is a few grandfathered cases for stoves and electric clothes dryers.