Ground wire question

Aug 14, 2007 5 Replies

My old home (50's) has, for the main part, no ground wires running to the outlets. The wiring is romex, but, only a hot and a neutral except where I have added additional outlets. The previous owner has placed three hole (grounded) outlets on many of the two wire circuits. I know that is not to code and should be converted back to groundless plugs.



Question: Can I simply run separate ground wires to these outlets. Almost all of the wiring reaches these outlets via the attic crawl space. Do I need to make 'home runs' to each outlet or can I install splice boxes in the attic and do radial runs from therein?



All advice or criticisms appreciated.



Thanks, Ivan Vegvary


Yes, as per NEC 250.134(B) exception #1. You can access the 2005 NEC online through a java applet via:

Home runs are not required. For a retrofit application like this, you could daisy chain all the equipment grounding conductors (EGC) in a single run.

Cheers, Wayne

id do only the ones needed, most things dont have a ground prong anyways, computer, fridge strove, washer thats probably about it. most of those have a metal shell is why they are grounded.

See NEC 2005 250.130C & 250.130C

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250.130C

OOPS, should have said see NEC 2005 250.130C and 406.3D(3)

I have the same problems with a 50's house. Can you give more detail how to retrofit daisy chain and especially where to buy the grounding conductors (ESG).

Thanks

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