On Mar 16, 9:53*pm, "
wrote:
On Mar 16, 7:37*pm, DerbyDad03 wrote:





On 03/16/13 5:25 PM, RBM wrote:

On 3/16/2013 4:30 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
Without going into all the details about no free breakers, location of
junction boxes, finished ceilings, etc., I'm looking for a "yes it's
code"
or "no it's not code" answer to this question:

There's a junction box with a 14/2 without ground coming directly from
the
panel. *Leaving this box is a 14/2 without ground and a 14/2 with ground.
The ground wire is attached to the junction box but of course it isn't
actually grounded.

Can you run a single insulated ground wire from the panel to the junction
box to provide a ground for the 14/2 with ground *that leaves the box.

The 14/2 without ground that leaves the junction box goes to GFCI
receptacle as the first receptacle on that run. That's fine for now.
However, the 14/2 with ground goes to some receptacles which should
have an
equipment ground. My friend would like to add that ground in the easiest
manner possible, which is to simply add a ground wire from the panel the
junction box. Can he do that?

Thanks!
Yes, you can, but as others have said, it makes a neater job to install
a new cable to the box. This way it is also clear what the cable is and
what it's doing. A single ground conductor, bare or green isn't
necessarily going to be obvious as to it's purpose and could be cut or
removed unintentionally

I agree with what everyone says about the new wire vs. just the ground.
I mainly wanted to know if a separate ground was even allowed.

As for the details into the situation, I purposely left something out so
as not to confuse the issue. OK, maybe I even lied a teensy bit.

What is really going in the junction box is that it is part of an Edison
circuit. Pulling a ground wire just to supply a ground for the circuit
that he wants grounded leaves everything else just as it is. It would
take some pretty serious rewiring to eliminate the Edison circuit since
it incorporates part of the first floor and part of the second.

Converting from an Edison circuit to two seperate circuits
really has nothing to do with the ground issue, does it?



Pulling a new run of Romex with a ground wire would still mean that only
the circuit he wants grounded will use the new ground wire, which might
be just as confusing for someone else later on.

If it's as you described, then the new Romex with ground
enters the first junction box. *From there one cable leaves
which has a ground. *It's now grounded. *The only possible
confusion is that the other half of the edison circuit doesn't
have a ground, but that's what you have now. *And that
half is GFCI protected from the first receptacle on.

Finding an Edison

circuit in a house is confusing enough for most people. Any way that we
supply a ground to one side of it is going to be just as confusing.

It must have been a rework that resulted in only one
half being grounded. *Sounds like they tied one half onto
an old circuit, the other half was a new run with ground.

But I think running a completely seperate ground wire
is taking it to another level of being weird. *For example,
if a home inspector saw a seperate ground wire running
from the panel to the junction box, for sure
it's going to raise questions and call for a closer look.
He'd probably call it out in his report.
If all that is there is a romex there from panel to junction
box, then it looks perfectly normal.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thinking about this a bit more, if I understand this
correctly, the Edison circuit splits at the junction box,
correct? The only shared neutral is between the panel
and the junction box, correct? If that's the case, why
not just replace the double breaker with two
single breakers, run two new Romex to the junction box,
one for each circuit? Then you have one regular grounded
circuit and one circuit that is ungrounded and they are
not sharing anything in common.