"Duane Bozarth" wrote in message
...
msterspy wrote:

Thanks Doug. I'm going to get rid of that ground wire connected to
nuetral. Don't know why it was done that way.

Ignorance, almost surely...

Indeed.

But they probably didn't realize, as well, that a gfci outlet is about the
only thing to wire improperly this way relatively safely. (Not that it
should be done).

The danger, the way I understand, with hooking the neutral to ground
anywhere but the main panel is that if the neutral would stop functioning
for some reason, it would then allow the bare ground to be used as a
neutral, which in this case would immediately trip the gfci.... instead of
waiting for somebody who is grounded to touch the fixture in this state and
zapping them (since it would still be functioning 'normally').

I think it's odd that the gfci would trip in this situation anyway. They are
pretty sensitive, and if there is a path for the electricity to flow through
the ground to the neutral it will to some extent.... it would seem. Which
should trip the gffi.