"terry" wrote in message
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On Jul 5, 11:22 am, "RBM" wrote:
"dpb" wrote in message

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Josh wrote:
That's a Code violation. If feasible, you should remove that green
wire,
and
replace it with black or red.

Pulling the entire green wire through and replacing it with blk or red
isn't feasible. The green and white enter the outlet box and don't
leave. But since there are other outlets in the living room on this
circuit, there has to be a junction box somewhere in the house that
the green wire goes into and branches out of. It's probably in the
attic, and since I have a relatively flat roof, hardly any crawl space
up there and lots of loose fill insulation, I ain't going up there!

I'm going to leave that green wire alone, maybe mark the ends and put
the warning sticker on the breaker box which one of you recommended,
and use black 12 gauge from the wire nut onwards.

I guess the original electrician was color blind. But the wire has
done its job for 51 years and counting without, as Shaun stated,
killing any electricians.

Marking it is good; I'd guess the run was done because was out of
black/red at the time and didn't take the time/trouble to go get
additional wire for one run. It would seem more likely was a DIY'er
rather than licensed electrician but in existing work it doesn't make a
whole lot of sense to pull it only for the insulation color.

If ends are marked and it is used as hot it will be patently clear to
any
electrician long before there's an issue. It's not quite like the
situation of white (neutral) in switch leg where there isn't another
black
conductor to be used but again since it's existing, "close enuff".

--I agree that clearly marking the ends of the wire are a better than
nothing solution, but as the OP said, there must be at least one other
junction box where this wire exists. It's one thing to see a green wire
attached to a breaker or the hot side of a receptacle, but it's another
thing to have a green wire in a junction box, with nothing to define
that
it's hot. I wouldn't be concerned about any "electrician" mistaking it,
as
electricians would tend to be more careful regarding wires they are
connecting to, but an amateur may easily believe that it is a ground,
and
in an awkward location like a tight attic, get himself hurt. This is
probably why the NEC prohibits remarking a green conductor- Hide quoted
text -

- Show quoted text -

Anyone else can take me apart for this ............... but if it was
in my house and in good condition and the breaker is the appropriate
size for the gauge of 'smallest' wire on that whole circuit (see
below) then I'd generously mark both ends of that green hot wire
either with red nail polish or black paint or sleeve it with some
black tubing (also mark 'green wire' on the circuit breaker record)
and carry on from there.
But is that circuit correctly grounded, is it?????
BTW recently a neighbour working on his basement asked me me to hook
up two outlets from an existing circuit. He had used 14AWG for the
extension which he had bought because it was cheaper than 12AWG!
So I warned him before we started that THAT circuit MUST be breaker-ed
back at the panel at 15 amps. A short while ago he had an electrician
replace his old fuse panel with a breaker-ed panel. Fuse were an odd
choice, because our house built about same time has a generous supply
of breakers and two pony panels! Fortunately it was a 15 amp breaker-
ed circuit and with very little, if anything else, on it! So his
outlets will be OK.

Good point about the grounding. The OP hasn't clearly specified what the
conductors are in, but it does sound like some form of Greenfield, which is
only acceptable as an EGC for circuits 20 amps or less, and lengths not
exceeding 6 feet.