"Bob" wrote in message
...
On 7/4/2010 16:19, Josh wrote:
My 1950s vintage house has the armored flexible conduit. Most of the
circuits have the standard black/hot white/neutral color scheme. For
some reason, the 20A circuit I want to modify uses a GREEN 12-gauge
wire all the way from the breaker to the hot outlet terminal in my
garage wall...

I've seen similar wiring schemes in 50's wiring in Los Angeles, which
required conduit wiring at the time. Evidently at one time green was not
reserved for use as a grounding conductor.

You may be able go
grandfather in what is in place now, but if you're extending the circuit
use another color.

I believe that existing , previously approved wiring is inherently
grandfathered provided it hasn't been altered . If his entire house was
wired using green conductors for the hot legs, it might give credence to
your theory, but as it was just this one circuit,it's more likely that it
was just sloppy work. The original wiring didn't use an equipment ground and
didn't have grounded outlets. To be Nec compliant, the Op should not have
replaced the non grounding outlets with grounding outlets, unless he pulled
an equipment grounding conductor through the greenfield.


Also keep in mind that flexible conduit is not suitable as a grounding
conductor, although it may have served such a purpose at one time. If
feasible you may want to consider running a new hot wire from the breaker
to the first outlet, leaving the green wire available for grounding.