Doug Miller wrote:
In article . com, John Ross wrote:


Doug Miller wrote:
In article .com, John Ross
wrote:
The saga of my trying to get a few receptacles grounded continues....

Talked to another electrician, who wants to just run a new Romex cable
(this is 1960 house with the old Romex with no ground in it) from the
specific receptacle back to the panel (he hasn't come out yet to look
at the place, but thinks he can run it the same place as original--
well, not the entire original--just up wall to attic and then to
panel).

Probably, he's intending to run the cable to the *first* receptacle on the
circuit.

No, he said just at the receptacle to be grounded. He's NOT rewiring
the whole circuit.

He doesn't have to rewire the whole circuit. The receptacle he runs the cable
to will *become* the first receptacle on the circuit. Make sure he installs a
GFCI receptacle there, and wires the downstream outlets to the LOAD side of
the GFCI.


This sounds a lot cleaner than drilling holes in floor just for a
ground wire etc. However, you guys have gotten me up to speed on the
grounding issue, but I am clueless for something like this.

Is this considered legitimate?

Sure. Why wouldn't it be?

I assume you would have to connect the
old wires together somehow in the receptacle so the other receptacles
on the circuit are not cut off?

Same way they're connected now.

The other thing that I just thought of was when it gets back to the
breaker, you will still have the old wiring connected to that breaker.

No, that would be disconnected and replaced by the new cable.

The new cable is just for ONE outlet. The old cable will still be
there for the other outlets, so it has to stay connected to the
breaker, right?

No. There's a cable going to the outlet in question now. That cable (or
cables) can be used to supply power to the rest of the circuit. And the old
cable from the breaker box to that circuit becomes redundant, and will be
removed.

So how would he end up with both connected to that breaker?

He wouldn't.

Again, I assume the old wire has to still be connected to the breaker
in some way.

Why?

Consider: (view in a fixed-space font)

[Breaker Box]--------[outlet 1]------[outlet 2]-------[outlet 3]

Run the new cable to outlet 3:

[Breaker Box]--------[outlet 1]------[outlet 2]-------[outlet 3]
| |
+----------------------------------------------------+

The old cable between the breaker box and outlet 1 is completely unnecessary,
and can (and should) be removed.

To make things easier for me to understand, let's forget about the
GFCI (the whole point of this is I don't want it--I want a ground for
a refrigerator and PC).

I guess I don't understand what the definition of "the first
receptacle on the circuit" means. I assumed there had to be some
linear connection whereby you start, for example, at the left side of
a wall and run in a line to the end.

Are you saying it is arbitrary? For example, your example of outlet
1---2---3
you showed changing the connection from 1 to 3 (which still shows a
linear beginning and end). What about if the receptacle in question is
number 2? If the new cable from the breaker connects "in the middle"
at outlet 2, is that considered acceptable?

thanks
--
John