on an older two wire system can a single bare copper ground wire be added and run to the crawlspace and hooked to a looped ground wire connected to the ground bar in the panel ?
Sounds wrong. Running a ground wire is one thing… but bare copper?
For what purpose?
he wants to update the old two wire with grounded outlets and not totaly rewire the whole house or open all the walls.
Isthis for all receptacles or just ones in the crawlspace?
all the rec on the main floor, bring the wire down and tie to one ground wire in the crawl and run it to the panel
Sounds like if done and all connections are secure, it would be an effective ground. If I were to find this during an inspection, I would report it as “amateurish wiring added that should be further evaluated by a licensed specialist.”
You might want to read Article 250.130(C) before wasting your clients money.
**[FONT=Times-Bold]size=2 Nongrounding Receptacle Replacement or Branch
Circuit Extensions. **[/size][/FONT][FONT=Times-Roman][size=2]The equipment grounding conductor
of a grounding-type receptacle or a branch-circuit extension
shall be permitted to be connected to any of the following:
(1) Any accessible point on the grounding electrode system
as described in 250.50
(2) Any accessible point on the grounding electrode conductor
(3) The equipment grounding terminal bar within the enclosure
where the branch circuit for the receptacle or
branch circuit originates
(4) For grounded systems, the grounded service conductor
within the service equipment enclosure
(5) For ungrounded systems, the grounding terminal bar
within the service equipment enclosure
[/size][/FONT]
Here’s what the 2008 NEC says:
Why not just drive a ground rod and run a proper wire to the panel?
What would the ground rod actually do?
Hmmm - guess I didn’t understand the question exactly…:mrgreen:
Frank, ground rods are to ground the system against high voltage events like lightning strikes or surges. They have nothing to do with an equipment grounding conductor that runs to the third prong on a receptacle.
As I said, I misunderstood the original question, so my comment was not applicable.
would changing to GFCI outlets be an acceptable solution. Its my understanding they don’t provide a ground but do provide personal protection and would allow for modern appliancec to be used, but not grounded
Yes, that would be an acceptable solution as outlined by the NEC. As you’ve stated it would provide personal protection, but a GFCI device cannot be used as a substitute for grounding.
Just to verify; I saw this in an inspection today. The house had three prong plugs throughout and tested as grounded. There were very few groundwires in the main panel. In the crawlspace I saw what appeared to be ground wires running to each receptacle. As I understand the previous discussion, this is acceptable, yes?
I don’t see an issue with it, except for the color identification of the conductors. I believe smaller egc’s need to be bare, green, or green with yellow stripes.
Robert M has posted the requirements for adding the ground in post 8 above.
The splices do not have connectors on them. They just look twisted.
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