I have a 3 prong outlet that is not properly grounded. Can I ground those outlets myself?

Answer 1

DO NOT SPLICE YOUR GROUND WIRE TO THE NEUTRAL! The other answers that tell you to do this are wrong!

The neutral is a current carrying conductor. If you splice the ground wire to the neutral, you will make everything metallic that is bonded to the ground live. This is extremely dangerous.

The best way to properly ground your receptacles, is to run a ground wire back to your breaker box. I recommend installing a new cable (14/2 or 12/2 match existing cable size) that includes a ground wire.

You are also permitted to install a ground wire to a point in your electrical system that a grounding wire is bonded to. For example, water pipe, ground rod, etc.

As for your question, yes you may ground these receptacles yourself. However, you should check with your local building codes department first. Some areas allow homeowners to complete all wiring on their own homes and other areas have restrictions.

If you need further assistance, please visit:
http://electricalblog.gilchrist-electric.com

Answer 2

Grounded 3 Prong Outlet

Answer 3

Ill put it to you simply..... If you ground the outlet to the electrical outlet, your only grounding it to that, not back to the earth. If you reconfigure the panel so that the ground is coming back on the neutral, well you better hope you dont have an outside disconnect, and that your panel is not isolated. With an old wiring system in your house, probably knob and tubing, with the homeruns run to the light, i would be sooooo cautious with what you do. I have worked on hundreds of houses with two wire system, and old fuse box, only to see it have problems because the owners never addressed major electrical issues.

You say you have a fuse box? man time to upgrade, get a 200amp square D circuit breaker panel and re run your homeruns! As you upgrade your appliances, tv's bedrooms and everything else, you need to upgrade your wiring, old wiring like that has a fabric sheath not rubber, or UV resistant romex. If i were you i would upgrade , get photoelectric smokes installed, ionized always cause problems, get AFCI's installed in every bedroom, GFCI's installed in every bathroom, and you can do that from the panel without gutting your house. I would install smoke detectors in every bedroom, and rerun some homeruns so you can have proper grounding. Also check your outside meter, corrosion can cause the terminals to overheat, and you not get very efficient electricity to your house...

oh yea, what some people are saying by grounding it to a pipe...NEVER do that, you need to bond your cold water pipe within 5' of the foundation, along with rebar in the concrete but dont ever ground an outlet to a water pipe, or gas line! If your going to listen to someone, listen to a professional! States that allow you to do your own wiring, are you kidding me? I havnt been doing this for over 10 years to know what im talking about!

Answer 4

Grounds on electric outlets are there for safety purposes. However, they only contribute to safety on electrical devices that have a three-wire plug, such as some power tools, many appliances, TVs, stereos, etc. It's possible to do the job yourself, but it helps if you have some experience with wiring. In many locales, it's permissible to run an additional ground wire from each outlet back to the service entrance panel, where it would then be connected to the ground buss.

Answer 5

one suitable way to use a 3 prong outlet without a ground or without running a ground wire is to install a GFCI outlet in its place. This will also meet National Electrical Code (nec)

Answer 6

Gilhrist is absolutely correct. It isn't a code just to force you to spend more money. Lets say for example that the neutral wire becomes damaged due to a rat or something, if the grounding system is tied to your neutral conductor you will not notice an interruption of power to that receptacle BUT when you come in contact with the metal encasement and you aren't isolated from ground (earth) then you experience a shock or electrocution due to a difference in potential (the metal and earth are different, now you are the conductor.)**DO NOT CONNECT THE GROUND TO THE NEUTRAL**

Answer 7

Yes. If you can get the necessary access, run a green or bare copper wire from the outlet ground screw to the ground bar in the breaker box. If you can't, just tie the outlet ground screw to the neutral screw. This is against code, but it can be a necessary cheat if you are dealing with something like a refrigerator which really needs to be grounded.

Answer 8

If your house has only a two wire system and not three you can use a short piece of wire ,the same gauge as the circuit wire, and hook one end to the ground screw and the other end the ground wire on the receptacle.This one is usually the white wire, but take off the breaker panel or fuse box cover to be sure which color goes to the ground strip before you do this.My house has the old two wire system and this is what I did with mine.My dad was an electrician for over 42 years and that's how he told me to hook up my three hole receptacles.The third wire in a three wire system is only an extra safety in case of a short but this way will still work safely.I wouldn't use this method in the bathroom or kitchen where water is used close by.Make sure and use GFCI receptacles there.

Answer 9

you can run a ground wire to the box, or down to earth if your home is raised. or even run a ground wire and mount it to a water pipe inside the wall.

but, please, don't wire it to the neutral

Answer 10

in addition to rhs`s answer, yes it is against the electrical code bot the neutral is bonded to ground in the panel anyway