Replace ALL the wires and be done with it......


On Mon, 10 Jul 2006 17:09:17 -0400, Ari wrote:


Might not be necessary; if the wiring is vintage 60s, it's most likely
grounded via conduit or via BX cable. No?


No, there are no ground wires in any on the junction boxes or in the
outlet boxes. I've pulled apart a bunch of them to make sure. The
cable is 2 conductor, no ground, no metal conduit. It just looks like
Romex, except there is no third wire in it.

The boxes are all metal and have the grounding screw, but of course,
there is no third wire to attach to the grounding screw. So, the boxes
are 'floating'.

Can I run a large gauge single ground wire back to the box, and then
attach individual ground wires from each outlet to the 'bus' wire?

There is a very large copper wire already going to ground on the city
water meter, can I attach other wires to this large ground wire since
it goes to a true ground?

Does the 'ground' truely have to go to the ground in the panel?
Shouldn't any dedicated ground source be just as goodas the panel
ground (such as a ground rod driven in hte ground)?

I understand the gfi outlet solution (labeling each outlet to indicate
there is no ground). I even understand WHY this is OK (because the GFI
outlet senses current in both the neutral and the hot wire, and
immediately trips if there is a difference between the current in each
wire). But, I'd much rather have a real ground, if possible.

A bus (or is it buss) solution is not ok?

Thanks,

A