Ground Wire Laying On Dirt

John Ross · 2007-09-03T12:17:10+00:00

I had an electrician over and asked about grounding an outlet (early'60s house with grounded wire only to baths and kitchen).This was an outside wall with a water pipe faucet near. He said hecould just poke a hole through the wall and run the ground wire to thepipe and attach it there. So he does this and I end up with a greenground wire coming out of the wall about a foot up. He then said hecould just have it go straight down to the ground and then over to thepipe, which is about 6 feet away. I was surprised when he offered tojust make a very shallow impression in the dirt and then just coverdirectly with dirt. So basically it is just put on the ground with alittle dirt thrown on it. I did ask if this was code and he said"sure" (just so you know, he is licensed and has been around foryears).Well now I don't feel so comfortable with this. Is it ok to have awire like that in/on dirt with no hard weatherproof casing? Is thisconsidered normal practice for a ground wire?Interested in opinions on this and what problem(s), if any, would yoube concerned about. Note: to be clear, this is not bare copper, itdoes have the green sleeve.--John