we have a house with 2 wire electrical service is there a way of grounding from the circut breaker box ?

Question

some one told me that there is a type of breaker that goes in the breaker box that makes it a gfci instead of rewiring the whole house

Answer 1

Another one of those questions where people that don't have the first clue are giving bad advice. This calls for a bit of explanation, so please bear with me.

If your wiring is in otherwise good condition, there is no reason to rewire just to install GFCI protection on a circuit. You have two options.

If you can buy breakers for your box, you certainly can add a GFCI breaker. Breakers are no longer available for some boxes because the design of those boxes is faulty. They are a fire hazard and you should replace it if you have one. If you can still buy breakers you are fine.

The only thing more hazardous about installing a GFCI breaker than any other is you do have to make a connection to the neutral. For a variety of reasons, this is actually more dangerous than just working with the hot side of the circuit. If you turn off the main breaker while working (find a flashlight) and follow the directions with the new breaker, you should be perfectly capable of a successful installation. It is fairly common practice to install a new breaker "hot" with the main on (not that I would recommend), absolutely do not try to install a GFCI breaker this way.

The other option would be to install a GFCI outlet just as you would if you did have a ground wire in the box, but you will not have anything to connect to the ground screw. This is NOT a problem so far as proper operation of the GFCI is concerned. National Electric Code does require that you place a label on the outlet that says "NO EQUIPMENT GROUND", but other than that it will function just fine and is absolutely legal. Obviously, you can't plug something in with a 3 prong plug and expect it to be grounded.

Note that neither of these options requires you to install a ground wire to the outlet. No connecting to pipes, no new wires.

GFCIs do not use the ground connection to work. They detect an imbalance between the hot side of the circuit and the neutral, cutting the power when the imbalance is present. This is why the breaker requires a connection to the neutral of the circuit. If a ground wire is present for a GFCI outlet, it is simply passed through to the outlet and has zero to do with the GFCI protection.

Now, if you intend to connect equipment that requires a ground, GFCI or not, you should make arrangements for a ground wire. I can't think of anything you would be using in a bathroom and few things in a kitchen that would be on a GFCI that have a ground connection, so the absence of a ground connection will not be an issue.

Thinking of things in the bathroom -- how many appliances with a built in GFCI have you seen that have a ground connection? They don't have it because they don't need it, and you don't need one here either.

Answer 2

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Take a look at the main (the panel that the source of electricity comes from). Generally a breaker box is a long rectangular box, and when you open it you see a lot of little rectangles with switches on them with one larger switch at the top. Usually on that box it will tell you 100A, 200A etc for the size of the service that it is. If its a fused location, then the box will most likely be small and square with a few round little fuses in there, slightly larger than a quarter. There could be other types of fuses in there, but generally if you see the the switches I described above you are looking at a circut breaker box. Now, even though you may have a circut breaker box, you could still have older wiring, like knob and tube, which used to be connected to a fuse box. This wiring needs to be inspected by an electrical contractor if you are buying a house to make sure it has not been tampered with and is still safe. It is not grounded, so you only have 2 prong outlets available. Hopefully this answers your question.

Answer 3

To be safe, you should ground your load center (breaker box) to a 4' metal rod (copper clad steel or pure copper) that has been pounded into solid earth. Some municipalities allow grounding to the cold water line, but you should check with your local coding authority. You can ground an individual circuit, or the entire box. Most do the box, but if you don't have a ground line to each outlet, you may need to ground the circuit at the outlet.

A GFCI is a ground fault circuit interrupter. If the electrical charge goes to a path other than the grounded neutral, it opens the circuit to prevent damage.

I am not familiar with GFCI breaker, but am familiar with the outlets. If you don't have a ground wire at the point of use, you can run a copper grounding wire through the wall, outside the house and pound a rod into the ground and attach the ground wire. A GFCI will only work with a ground. If you use the GFCI breaker at the box, all loads on that circuit can trip the GFCI, and you may be making lots of trips to the breaker box to reset the breaker.

Answer 4

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RE:
we have a house with 2 wire electrical service is there a way of grounding from the circut breaker box ?
some one told me that there is a type of breaker that goes in the breaker box that makes it a gfci instead of rewiring the whole house

Answer 5

Electrical Service Wire

Answer 6

House Electrical Service

Answer 7

Im assuming you mean you do not have grounded plugs , every service consests of 2 hot wires and a ground, Yes installing GFCI breakers is a way of making a ungrounded outlet safer usually the best way is to ground all plugs but this is very exp. as it involves rewiring the whole house , but it is possible that there is a ground in the box not a wire but the box it self because a metal encasedwire call BX was used alot before in homes and you can get a ground through that , you can check but pulling out a plug and with a voltage tester, testing from the black hot wire to the box , (one lead to hot and one to metal box) if there is a ground you could simply get grounded plugs and install them with a jumper wire from metal box to the outlet. ,

Answer 8

Yes its a GFCI breaker but make sure your panel is grounded ether by a cold water or a ground rod outside
A 2 wire is common as it means the main lines from the outside you have 2 hot wires called phase's and 1 neutral going into your breaker box or fuse box

Answer 9

Yes, but DO NOT try it unless you are VERY familiar with electric house current (if you're asking - DO NOT do it). The ground from the breaker box should be clamped to the STEEL water pipe - NOT the GAS pipe. Your two wire house is 1-HOT wire & 2-NEUTRAL wire THERE IS NO GROUNG WIRE TO THE OUTLETS - AND YES THERE IS A DIFFERENCE - A REALY BIG ONE.

Answer 10

I recommend getting a professional. You will not be happy with a GFCI because they are very sensitive to fluctuations in current and you will be losing power to the whole house a lot more often than you like. The other option is to ground the breaker panel, either to your cold water pipe where it comes into the house as suggested or drive a ground rod outside. Good luck.