Electrical Question

[jaspermac]

I sold my house and the inspection report came back today. I have 2 gfi outlets that are not grounded. My house was built in the 50's with a master bedroom added on in the 70's. I had the house rewired expect the master bedroom. It has 3 wire romex coming to all plugs and lights. The gci is not wired right because when I hit it with a tester, it comes back no ground, but will trip with manual button.

The buyer is requiring that I fix this. Is there an easy way to ground the whole room or do I have to run a new homerun to the breaker box just for the outlets. It is pier and beams so very easy to do either one. I am just looking for cost and time savings.

Thanks.

[bowhntrmatt]

Seems like if a test button trips it, that should suffice. I don't know how to answer your question, though. Good luck. Someone will know the answer.

[Deb]

Pm LM Butler on here.

[chris1911]

the 2 gfis are in the master bath i assume?..if so just go up in the attic and grab the ground from the master bedroom and splice in there.iii if the master bed is grounded. if not then yes youll have to go to the panel and tie in the home run ground there. if not grounded there then youll have to drive a rod.

[BrianW]

If the romex has 3 wires then that should consist of a "hot","neutral", and ground..So you should be able to ground your GFCI recepticle with the romex in the box....If I'm reading your post right....I re-read your post and you should check to make sure that there is 3 wire romex in the box of the GFCI,if there is then just connect the "bare"/ground to the recepticle and it should test ok then.....I am Texas licensed electrician..If you need more help you can call me at 307-797 four 8 two 4...Brian hope this helps

[glpoe1]

The guys are right about finding a ground and splicing in, that will work. On another note the GFCI funtioning has nothing to do with the ground. They work off of a current imbalance between the N and hot wire.

[avidhunter75]

If your looking for a way to ground the whole master bedroom, and since it is pier and beam, you could either run a ground to a cold water pipe or a small ground rod.

[haneydew]

Gfi receptacles are not required to be grounded. they actually will take the place of 2 wire receptacles. read the instructions on a gfi box and it will explain this. and do not run a ground from a cold water pipe. reason being if you loose your nuetral coming into the house,(and it does happen) and the water pipe is a better ground than your ground rod on the house, you will be pulling a nuetral though your water pipes, ie shower , tub fixtures, sink fixtures. ect. Ive seen voltage on all these things before because of this. not to mention the time the a/c tech working in the attic got an arc on the metal gas line(which they ground to the water lines). they had lost the nuetral at the service on the line outside.

[Johnny Dangerr]

I would call my electrician and get a price to fix it. Then give the buyers 2 choices that number off the price of the house or their earnest money back......

[Mike]

Please don't gound it to the water pipe, I have seen bad things happen here and I am not an electrician, lol.

Three strand grounded into the box should get you where you need to be.

[tommyp]

if it has 12/2 with ground romex going to the receptacles. then you are dealing with an open ground. do not try to install some type of supplimental ground. you need to either have a licensed electrician make the repair ( $200.00 / $250.00 bucks) and document the repair or give an allowance to the buyer to make this repair. just need to tracew out the circuit and find the open ground . but it needs to be performed by a licensed contractor.

[avidhunter75]

Gfi receptacles are not required to be grounded. they actually will take the place of 2 wire receptacles. read the instructions on a gfi box and it will explain this. and do not run a ground from a cold water pipe. reason being if you loose your nuetral coming into the house,(and it does happen) and the water pipe is a better ground than your ground rod on the house, you will be pulling a nuetral though your water pipes, ie shower , tub fixtures, sink fixtures. ect. Ive seen voltage on all these things before because of this. not to mention the time the a/c tech working in the attic got an arc on the metal gas line(which they ground to the water lines). they had lost the nuetral at the service on the line outside.

Sounds like their service wasn't grounded properly to start with.

This is the reason services are bonded at the first means of disconnect, which means you are supposed to bond the neutral and ground together usually at the Main disconnect, this coupled with a cold water ground AND ground rod on a continuous grounding conductor (wire), (in most cases, depending on city) solves that problem.

Jasper, pm me if you need any questions answered where I can get more background info on the rewiring job you had done, and give you an honest opinion from a licensed electrician. (me)

[jaspermac]

I found the homerun under the house last night and it appears to be 12-3 but I couldn't find a ground (it was 9:30 and I had a flashlight didn't want to shut off power). I am going to take the junction box apart more when I get home and look deeper. I may have to pull a new homerun because the romex at the outlets have grounds.

I have to have a licensed contractor fix it, but I would like to diagnose it before he gets here.

[tx-bowhunter]

I found the homerun under the house last night and it appears to be 12-3 but I couldn't find a ground (it was 9:30 and I had a flashlight didn't want to shut off power). I am going to take the junction box apart more when I get home and look deeper. I may have to pull a new homerun because the romex at the outlets have grounds.

I have to have a licensed contractor fix it, but I would like to diagnose it before he gets here.

If you found a 12-3 home run to the panel it should include a black, red, white and a bare wire for ground. If there is no bare wire, strip back the insulation to find it. Sometimes electricians will just cut it off and not worry about it. If you find it just splice onto it and continue your grounding circuit bact to the panel. Make sure it is properly connected inside your panel. Make sure you have ground rods installed and do not just use your cold water as a ground