Gordon wrote:Just bought a house, built in 1963, that only has grounded outlets in the bathrooms, kitchen and the outside outlets. These outlets are GFCI and they do trip when the test button is pressed. The rest of the outlets in the
house are not grounded. I removed one of the outlets to see if there was a ground wire in the box. No such luck. Light tugging on the wires tells me that they are probably stapled inside the wall. Do I have to run all new wire back to the panel or can I run an additional wire (Green?) to the outlets? I haven't even started looking at light fixtures yet.
1963? Did you do a proper testing of the outlet and box to see if it's grounded? It could be that the wires are in conduit, and the ground connection_is_ the conduit, or the boxes could be connected externally. Take your tester, stick one lead into the hot(small)slot, and touch the other lead to the screw in the center or to the box itself. If it lights up, you're good to go. If not, you've got some fishing to do. Tom