Separate ground wire to panel to ground outlets?

TomR · 2014-10-08T13:39:45+00:00

This question was posted in another forum by someone that I know and I thought that I would try posting it here to get some feedback on his behalf: He wrote, "In a house that has ungrounded, 2 prong outlets, with wiring in good condition, is it acceptable (and allowed by current electrical code) to run a separate ground wire from the outlets back to the ground at the panel, in order to be able to replace the 2 prong outlets with 3 prong outlets? Existing wiring is in very good shape." Thanks.

Oct 08, 2014 62 Replies

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N8N 11 years ago

Oh, gotcha. But it does have a separate ground conductor, probably 16AWG? I'd use it. If it were readily accessable beginning to end I might replac e it but otherwise it's fine. Be aware however that it probably doesn't ha ve the same temperature rating as modern NM-B cable so if feeding e.g. a li ght fixture tight to the ceiling with an enclosed incandescent that will ma ke the insulation very brittle... when working in those boxes be prepared with black and white electrical tape or heat shrink to patch it up.

nate

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N8N 11 years ago

? I'd use it. If it were readily accessable beginning to end I might repl ace it but otherwise it's fine. Be aware however that it probably doesn't have the same temperature rating as modern NM-B cable so if feeding e.g. a light fixture tight to the ceiling with an enclosed incandescent that will make the insulation very brittle... when working in those boxes be prepare d with black and white electrical tape or heat shrink to patch it up.

Forgot to add. I'm not sure when the ground conductor started to be the sa me gauge as the current carrying conductors, however, i've seen real plasti c jacketed NM with 16AWG grounds, my last house was full of it (obviously a retro; the house was built in the late 40's with a mix of BX and ungrounde d cloth sheathed NM)

nate

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