Is it safe to hook a ground AND nuetral to another nuetral only to achieve a ground?

Question

My house was built in 1964. Most of the wiring is just 2 wires (no ground) I installed a GFCI in the bathroom, the main reason of course to have that safety ground. Well, up in the attic, the closest and most feasible place to tap into was a 2 wire (hot and nuetral) that only goes to 2 outlets. I tied the hot to hot and the ground and nuetral to the nuetral. I checked the GFCI outlet with a GFCI tester and it shows {wired correctly} and also it trips the reset when I push the test botton. Also, I checked the 2 outlets I tied into and they both work (110 volts) just no ground. Of course, they weren't grounded before either. Is it safe to leave it wired this way?

Woops! I just realized I spelled Neutral wrong.

Answer 1

Absolutely not!

A GFCI device will provide ground fault protection even when wired into a two wire system with no grounding conductor. A grounding conductor is not necessary. A GFCI device monitors the current potential between the hot and the neutral conductors and disconnects the power when it detects a current differential of 3 - 5 milliamps.

Never, under any circumstances, connect the equipment grounding conductor and the grounded neutral conductor anywhere other than in the enclosure which contains the main disconnection device (main breaker). Connecting the ground and the neutral in any other location creates the potential for current to run on the grounding conductor and anything connected to the grounding conductor.

Answer 2

old houses have steel plumbing pipes that a-lot of people use as a ground - but back to your question - the neutral IS a ground, on an electrical circuit the neutral and ground go to the same place / drive around and find a new sub-division going up around where you live, walk in(don't worry the subcontractors will think you are the new home buyer), look at the electrical panel and you will see that the neutral wire for ALL of the electrical outlets in a house simply go to the ground (old farmers, when hooking up a well or something far from house would only run one wire and have the other wire just connected to a steel rod in the ground next to the pump in order to have 110 volt)

Answer 3

shouldn't create any problems but you could disconnect the ground and the gfci would work. the current in a gfci is measured between the hot and neutral the ground in any circuit is just added assurance.

Answer 4

NOOOO !!! against NEC code and against any decent electricians moral code of conduct and ethics... yes indeed the reason for a GROUNDED conductor and a GROUNDING conductor(NOTE: 2 SEPARATE definitions here and 2 separate wires!) is for your safety! A grounded conductor is the SERVICE grounding wire.. which normally is white or grey ..and is NOT grounded unless you physically ground it...whihc by CODE you MUST do ! The code specifies you must run a separate GREEN or bare copper wire to a grounding electrode(water pipe/ground rod as example) toproperly Ground your system...many areunder false delusions as to why this is done...and its simply so you wont get hurt....anyone who tells you otherwise doesnt know the facts... (30 plus years as master elec)

Answer 5

I am not an electrician but I thought the reason for the ground was so there is a second path to ground in case the neutral failed.
Check out the site I have linked.

Answer 6

well yes and no,,,, it will accomplish a ground in order to kick the breaker but what you may not be thinking of is the appliance may be grounded and there will be power on the appliance and when you touch it you can be shocked, so i advise against the old method of doing that or to hook to a water pipe either,lol... be safe , and don't take chances, and besides that if you accidentally have a fire your insurance will not cover if they find it like this, it is not code either,,,,good luck