Assuming the GFCI's never "wear out" and cease performing as they
should, I can't think of a scenario in which connecting the ground to
neutral would vreate a hazard.

But it could create bothersome tripping of the GFCI because modern ones
will sense nuetral to ground leakage. So, say you have a three wire
corded device plugged into one of those outlets with the metal case of
the device connected to the ground pin of the plug. If a leakage is
created between that device's case and ground, the GFCI will trip, which
wouldn't happen if the guy hadn't wired the ground to neutral.

I suspect that the electrician wired the neutral on the LINE side to the
grounding screw. It would not trip because the LOAD side neutral would not
have a path to ground.

I suspect the electrician got burned by an inspected when he put in a GFCI
on an un-grounded outlet. (Lots of folks don't understand how this can be
OK.) The the LINE side neutral tied to the ground screw the outlet would
"Look" like a normally grounded GFCI circuit for most purposes. Any
reasonable electrical tests would not be able to distinuish this ungrounded
circuit from a properly grounded circuit.



The only hazard I can envision is if the GFCI were to become inoperative
and also the neutral wire feeding the GFCI were to open. Then, the case
of a three wire corded device could rise to line voltage through the
resistance of whatever load is inside the device, admittedly a long
shot, but overall, I still think your guy shouldn't have connected the
ground to neutral, and installed those "ungrounded" labels.

Well, just lifting the LINE side neutral while the power is off can create a
very dangerous situation when the power comes back on. And you are right
that with this arrangement a lifted neutral would be bad news.

A lifted neutral presents a much bigger safety risk than a lifted ground.


I can't recall seeing a GFCI receptical without ground pin holes, but
maybe they are made for installations such as yours, so there's no
misleading "ground" pin hole on the receptical.

If you read the directions when you use them on ungrounded circuits you are
supposed to apply a lable that says "ungrounded."