How to upgrade outlets and switches

I'm preparing my mother's home for sale. It was built about 1953 and the wiring lacks the usual third ground conductor. To make it possible to conveniently plug in stoves, refrigerators, and power tools with three-wire cords, my father simply replaced two-wire outlets with three-wire ones, leaving their ground lugs disconnected.

At this point, every switch and outlet in the house is worn out, paint-covered, or installed up-side-down, so I plan to replace all of them. I started out intending to turn the clock back and replace all the outlets with two-wire ones, but it appears that I can't even buy them any more. Certainly the local HD doesn't have any.

So the question is whether there's a proper way to connect a three-wire outlet to antiquated two-wire cable?

Reply to
Richard M. Utter
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Your simplest option is to put a GFCI receptacle in every location. It may not sound cheap but the alternative is replacing the 2 wire cable with 3 wire cable. Not really practical unless you are already doing a gut and remodel.

There should be a sticker that comes with the GFCI to alert users that the plug is not really grounded. It does provide protection as it will trip if any current flows into the ground tab.

Reply to
PipeDown

That is pretty reasonable advice with one exception: Where the

3-wire is actually needed, such as for computers, stereos, etc..

Further: You don't need a GFCI at every location: You only need one per circuit, placed in the right location, meaning the receptacle which physically connects to the fuse/breaker box. Then that receptacle and all those beyond on the same circuit are protected. You can also buy ckt brkrs with gfci functionality, along with arc suppression and detection. IMO that would be the most desired from a new buyer perspective. Don't be too surprised if the lack of a third wire hurts some prospects, though. If you're in doubt about anything, it's easy to just call your local code enforcement office to get details: Every locations adds its own laws and rules to the mix.

Pop

Reply to
Pop

Use of a single GFCI or a GFCI breaker does not solve the problem of not having a ground wire in the first place. If you use a GFCI receptacle and connect several receptacles downsteam, you will get some GFCI protection but not from current into ground (the ground tab on those will still be open). Only at the GFCI receptacle itself do you get virtual safety ground protection.

Reply to
PipeDown

make sure you check the back of the box. sometimes they ran a ground wire and secured it to the back of the box. my house was built in 62 and that is what they did.

Reply to
dkarnes

This is illegal, and life threatening, so you might want to fix that quickly.

Per the NEC you can find the first outlet, and wire that with a GFCI, and have it feed the downstream outlets. So the first(the GFCI) and the downstream receptacles are ground fault protected. Just be sure the follow the rules, and mark each outlet with the normal "GFCI protected" and "No Equipment Ground" stickers.

Side note, a local jurisidiction here in eastern Pa, will not allow this. You either route a ground wire, or you use two prong outlets. The idea is to not update the outlets, but to replace the wiring method to include a equipment ground wire.

Check with your local codes, they usually are more stringent than the NEC.

I've seen them at our HD, but if I had to buy them in bulk, I would go to an electrical suppy house.

As mentioned above, follow the codes, especially the requirement that only qualified personal will work on electrical systems. :D

later,

tom @

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Reply to
Tom The Great

. . .

. . .

I'm fairly sure that GFCI breakers have a limit to how many downstream outlets you're supposed to be able to feed with them. (four, maybe?) If I was going to live in the house, I'de replace all of them. Since OP is preparing the house for sale, the cheapest option is probably to replace the breaker(s). Anyone who cares is going to be unhappy about the lack of ground-wire, using breakers instead of GFCIs isn't going to make matters worse.

Another thing to check is whether you've got armored metal cable that's grounded, in which case, pigtailing the receptical ground to the box may be enough to satisfy the house "inspector"s little LED tester. (Whether that's safe or code compliant in your area is another question.) My second-floor circuts are like that.

Reply to
Goedjn

I think I understand you. But just to be sure, are you saying that even without a ground wire connected to it the first GFCI receptacle would trip if an appliance plugged into it equipped with a three wire cord and plug developed internal leakage between hot and ground (or on the fancier GFCIs also between neutral and ground.), but that you don't get that level of protection on the downstream ones?

I'd assume you wouldn't get that protection on the first receptical either if there was no ground wire connected to it. I can't see where a leakage current to ground would flow if there was no ground wire for it to flow through.

If what you said assumed there WAS a ground wire to connect to the GFCI receptical then I agree with your statement, but that's prolly not what the OP has, unless he's lucky and the wall boxes are grounded, perhaps via the bare ground wire used in some of the old BX cables.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Wisnia

The ground fault device and anything plugged into any outlets connected to the load side of it, will cause the GFCI to trip if any leak of current to ground occurs, regardless if the outlets are grounded. The GFCI does not need a ground connected to it to function

Reply to
RBM

Of course, but that's NOT what I asked.

I was talking about (internal fault) leakage to the safety ground lead (chassis) oF an appliance with a three wire cord and plug. And, that faulty appliance is plugged into a GFCI outlet which does not have a ground wire run to it. i.e. an outlet which would require the little label stuck on it warning that there was no safety ground there.

Take a look at Sam Goldwasser's diagrams and explain please how the GFCI can sense internal leakage to the safety ground lead of the appliance if the ground pin hole in the outlet isn't connected to anything.

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Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Wisnia

Have you checked to see if a ground wire is attached to the back of the receptacle boxes? My house was built at the same time and I just added a jumper wire to the existing ground and then to my new three pronged receptacles. Fully grounded.

Reply to
tmurf.1

if its armored BX just add a pigtail between box and receptable ground terminal while observing hot black side to brass screw cold white wire to silver colored screw. please dont use those backstap receptables they are cheap but junk quality

Reply to
hallerb

The GFCI will not immediately sense if there is a leak to chassis ground in a faulty appliance. However, the instant a person touches the live chassis and completes a path to ground, the GFCI will trip, preventing injury. A live chassis by itself isn't dangerous - only when someone touches the chassis and gets shocked is it a problem, and a GFCI outlet will protect against this.

Reply to
csnydermvpsoft

Like the other post said, you don't have an imbalance until something or someone creates the bridge to ground. Then the device trips

Reply to
RBM

Use of a single GFCI or a GFCI breaker does not solve the problem of not having a ground wire in the first place. If you use a GFCI receptacle and connect several receptacles downsteam, you will get some GFCI protection but not from current into ground (the ground tab on those will still be open). Only at the GFCI receptacle itself do you get virtual safety ground protection.

********************

If by "safety ground protecti**********************************

GFCIs and safety ground:

Despite the fact that a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) may be installed in a 2 wire circuit, the GFCI does not create a safety ground. In fact, shorting between the Hot and Ground holes in the GFCI outlet will do absolutely nothing if the GFCI is not connected to a grounded circuit (at least for the typical GFCI made by Leviton sold at hardware stores and home centers). It will trip only if a fault occurs such that current flows to a true ground. If the original circuit did not have a safety ground, the third hole is not connected. What this means is that an appliance with a 3 prong plug can develop a short between Hot and the (supposedly) grounded case but the GFCI will not trip until someone touches the case and an earth ground (e.g., water pipe, ground from some other circuit, etc.) at the same time.

*********************************

I'll say no more on the subject.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Wisnia

Hi, Ground tab is floating(=no ground) but in certain cases, if a device plugged in has a leakage current it'll trip when person using it touches the device housing(ground) after taking a jolt which could cause an injury. Not a good adviuce from the safety point of view.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

According to Goedjn :

I've not seen any that hint at such a thing in their instructions. There's no reason I can think of where that would make any sort of sense. They have to be rated for 20A passthru, otherwise, you couldn't use them at all. The detection circuitry has no way of knowing (or caring) about how many outlets are downstream of it.

If they somehow did have such a restriction, I suspect that they'd fail UL/CSA approvals.

But who knows, perhaps some manufacturer does have that in their instructions to try to trick you to buying more GFCIs than you need.

It _would_ make a certain amount of sense to limit the number of outlets beyond each GFCI in order to minimize the number of outlets going dead when one trips. That's a useability issue, not a safety or operability one.

I'd test 'em, and if they tripped properly, leave 'em alone.

While the NEC does permit cable sheath as a ground, the CEC hasn't for a long time, and I wouldn't recommend relying on it unless there was no other alternative. Old armor can get remarkably high resistances...

Reply to
Chris Lewis

It would still be plenty to trip the GFCI if you had a ground fault to the case of attached equipment and eliminate one of the problems mentioned here. Actually AC cable does pretty well if it was properly installed. I did a survey of some old WWII buildings that were being converted and all of the AC runs were

Reply to
gfretwell

I hear you Jeff, I was actually responding to his post through yours

Reply to
RBM

I believe, gotta look it up, if you don't use gfci receptalces, you are stuck with using two prong receptalces.

later,

tom @

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Reply to
Tom The Great

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