I just purchased a home and found out that when i test recepticals with tester it shows open ground?

Question

recently looks as if new circuit breaker panel was installed, i can see both hot wires , ground and neutral all hooked to panel but no ground wire to outlets so i am assuming the conduit acts as a ground instead, the problem is i cant see where ground wire is going to in wall to see where it ends up and the wire on water meter also, is there a way to check to see if my ground is good comming into panel or any ideas how i go about getting a proper ground, this house was built in 1960 and has 3 prong outlets already.

Answer 1

I recently was called to unstop a sewer, in a house that was built in the '40's. I had plugged the sewer machine in, and was fixing to insert the cable into the cast iron pipe, when the cable touched the pipe. It started arcing, and fire and smoke was everywhere. I pulled the cable out, and it hit the aluminum siding, and started arcing again. I finally managed to free the cable and unplug the machine. Upon testing, every outlet in the house, except the kitchen, had an open ground. Luckily I wear rubber gloves, and electrically insulated shoes. Some people haven't been as lucky. Plumbers have died because of this situation. The homeowner is now getting an electrician, to rewire his house. Good luck!

Answer 2

Is it possible they just recently replaced the outlets to sell the house and didn't ground each outlet to the box? Flip off the breaker (and check to make sure the outlet is dead) and see if they have the third green wire from the recepticle to the metal box. In theory just screwing the outlet to the box should ground it but I was told to never trust it and use the right size ground wire. You are correct that the conduit can act as ground from the box to the breaker panel.

If the individual outlets are grounded correctly at the outlet and all the outlets test bad, then there must be a problem at the breaker panel. Please don't quote me on this, but I think there is supposed to be a ground wire that goes from the breaker box to either a copper post embedded in the basement floor or outside. It would be best to have an electrician look at it because you may have a somewhat dangerous situation with the whole house not being grounded.

One last thought, make sure the wiring actually does have metal conduit. I've seen some wiring in old houses that didn't have a ground wire and was only 2 wires wrapped in a cloth sheath. If you had that you would have to run ground wires to all your outlets. Again, have an electrician look it over and see what's going on.

Answer 3

I would call an Electrician as soon as possable ,just to be on the safe side but I would think when you had the house inspected if something was wrong it should have been caught ,and after having an Electrician check it and if there was a problem I would call the people I bought the house from and ask that they pay to have the problem fixed and if they refuse I would then call a Lawyer because they should have made a full disclosure and in the State I live if you know there is a problem with a home you are selling and you don't say anything it is against the Law.
Good luck

Answer 4

Houses built in 1960 did not require grounds on regular outlets in most of Canada and U.S.A.

Grounds were required on pumps, damp locations, and other special locations. Most of the house was likely wired without pulling ground wires through.

Is this house wired with conduit or non metalic sheathed cable (NMD)?

If it was wired with NMD, it may have the manufactures name, 14/2 or 14/3, 60 oC, NMD3. If it included a ground wire it would include the words with ground. The cable would likely be dirty dark brown, black or green in colour. The main problem is contractors could order NMD cable without writing; this would cost less and many contractor did to reduce costs.

The ground wire if present was to be connected to the box only. Many electricians cut the ground wire so that was just long enough to go under the ground screw. It is very hard to see it unless you remove the device (switch, receptacle, etc) and shine a flashlight into the box. May have to move the wires around. You have to be very careful as the insulation may be getting brittle and break off.

Ungrounded receptacles were banned from sale many years ago in most parts of Canada and U.S.A. As a result, you had to install ground receptacles on ungrounded circuits. I usually fill the ground hole in with epoxy. This identifies the receptacle as ungrounded.

Service entrance grounding was done by 3 main methods:
ground wire was run from the main service entrance disconnect switch's Neutral (Ground wire to be continuous (1 piece - no breaks) from the main service entrance disconnect switch's Neutral)
to:

1/ 2 10 foot galvanized ground rods 10 feet apart outside the house so the top of the rods were 6" below grade. Usually close to the wall, first rod just under the service entrance disconnect switch.

2/ 2 6 foot galvanized ground rods 10 feet apart inside the house in the basement so the top of the rods were 6" below concrete floor. Usually close to the wall, first rod just under the service entrance disconnect switch.

3/ To the supply side of the water supply (before the water meter) if the supply piping was at least 50 feet of 5/8 copper (may vary from area to area)

There are ways to test for substantial grounding. This should be done by a qualified electrician.

Hope this helps

Good Luck

Answer 5

The conduit doesn't run through the walls. The receptacles need to be grounded back to the earth ground. You need to do some careful inspection of the receptacles. It could be one main ground that didn't get attached or it could be that each receptacle needs to be grounded individually. Sounds like a "NON-Electrician" installed the panel.

Answer 6

Call a qualified electrician to check this out for you. Don't take electrical advise from untrained people.

Answer 7

consult an electrician... it is unsafe to live in a house with electrical problems like that . it can cause fires...