Anything wrong with grounding metal conduit to a cold water pipe in a 2-wire house?

[Steve F.]

New outlets may be added, but that is a different discussion.

[philoÂÂ]

Since the kitchen is going to be all new, I just don't see the point of even trying to re-use 65 year old wire, I'd pull all new through the conduit. It should be an easy job.

[trader4]

It's still unclear what exactly that means, but if the wiring in question isn't being modified, added onto, etc, then the answer to your question is probably to verify that the conduit is grounded back at the panel, in which case it can serve as the grounding conductor.

As others have pointed out or assumed, etc, it's a bit unusual for a kitchen renovation of a house from the 40's to not include electrical work, eg more outlets, GFCI, lights, more circuits, 20 amp vs 15, wiring for appliances, etc., even if it's just the same footprint, which it typically is. And if you get into that, then you clearly have to bring the kitchen electrical up to code. And even if you're ripping out some of the wiring and re-doing it, ie still trying to have the same outlets on the same circuits when you;re done, you can't do that either. It has to be brought up to code.

Even if that conduit is buried in the concrete, if it was installed correctly there should be endpoints, access points, etc where it's possible to pull new conductors. Something to keep in mind perhaps.

[trader4]

of the electrical is buried in concrete (the house is solid reinforced con crete) . The new kitchen is merely taking the place of the old kitchen. Sam e footprint.

It certainly is unusual. A new kitchen is a lot of money and work. And you want more outlets, higher amps, GFCI, more circuits, etc. I think it's rather odd to put money into a lot of other stuff and then wind up with a 75 year old electrical system. Both from a functionality standpoint and safety.

Around here, NJ, you couldm't even pull the permits for the other work that required, eg plumbing, without also pulling electrical permits and bringing it all up to code. It's kind of like rebuilding a room and I think once you open up the can of worms that the kitchen is being renovated, then everything that applies in the code has to be done. Other places, requirements may be different.

[philoÂÂ]

When I remodeled the kitchen over 20 years ago , since all the walls and ceiling were out, I found it easy to put in all new wiring everywhere /except/ one outlet that was hard to get at.

Guess which one just failed recently?

I just disconnected it and put in a whole new outlet and a separate feed.