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Found today at a home inspection. The older house had only two prong outlets. Someone wanted to have three prong outlets. They may have also wanted to fool a home inspector.
This is potentially very dangerous.
A lot of inspectors would have just checked the outlets, seen they "showed" grounded and moved on. I thought otherwise.
Are you saying most inspectors only look to see if the receptacle has three ports and assume a ground is provided? Not very professional but I would believe they do.
Just get a plug in receptacle tester. The lights show if it is proper or what is missing or backwards. The newer ones even do a quick easy test on GFCI. Or you can just use the Wiggins without taking anything apart, can even quickly tell if it is wired backward and if the ground is there.
If it fails any of the tests then take it apart. If I was a homeowner buying a house I would do my own testing, sure would not trust any inspection, way too much bogus work. Then again I would never pay for any inspection in the first place. Those plug in testers only costs like $5 and none of it is rocket science. Check every circuit, not talking any amount of time involved, plus if the house is wired for the bare code minimum, I would be marking down what I would be willing to pay for the shack. It is what that is not said many times that counts.
Most peeps buy a house with zero ability to judge is the shack worth what they are asking, in the end that is really what matters.
So do you know what the code says about remedying this situation?
I do . It will be interesting to see if anybody does. I have run across exactly 1 home inspector who knew, all the others told home owners totally wrong.
Just a wild a-- guess, replace the outlet with a polarized outlet? If the rest of the wiring was grandfathered in, and that was the only fault, that would bring it back into compliance. To bring things up to current code would mean major rewiring. Why do I suspect that it might not be the only problem???
Cosmic - a regular outlet tester would show this as correct grounded outlet AND IT IS NOT. This also has nothing to do with a GFCI circuit or outlet.
Bergenite. This was NOT due to K&T wiring. It was just 2 wire Romex. Hot and Neutral and no ground.
This is dangerous should a neutral ever come loose. Without going into a lot of details - an appliance could be energized with this wiring should a neutral wire come loose somewhere in the circuit.
Southgeorgia -This is NOT allowed anywhere in the code. I DO know what the code says about 2 wire systems and 3 prong outlets. This IS NOT the remedy.
While there is ONE electrical tester that can identify a bootleg ground, most inspectors and electricians do not own one. I caught this because I suspected it was done, and took some cover plates off, and looked at the wiring.
Well you should be able to correct it by............
1. Install a ground by some means. That might be by running a ground wire or use of a BX metal shield. Some might argue about the use of the BX for the function but a lot of places will approve it. Then you can install a standard 3 prong receptacle.
2. Replace it with a 2 wire designed receptacle, hopefully it is polarized correctly.
3. Replace with a GFI receptacle and mark as "No Equipment Ground Available, GFI Protected.
4. Install a standard 3 prong receptacle and protect it with GFI. Again you have to label marking the situation.
In a practical sense, you do not mess around with any of it. Rip all of it out and rewire with a modern 3 - wire system. Your life just is not worth it. It should be a big deal if buying a house. Don't buy something jury rigged, at least get it planned to be totally upgraded and the price adjusted according.
In my county you can do as you please, codes are only what the locals say they are. Lots of peeps die because of it.
I did relook at that pix and see the clown jumped the neutral over to the ground lug. In a lot of places that will result in criminal charges if somebody gets killed or badly hurt. I would think a peep in the panel would clearly show the house is a two wire system, one should never just look at receptacles, you want to understand the entire system as built.
This house is very typical of what was being done during that time.
Most of the wall outlets were 2 prong, and had a 2 wire system.
There were grounded outlets in the kitchen, bathroom, laundry, refrigerator,and garage. They had 3 wire conductors.
So looking in the panel, you will see "some" grounded circuits.
Most inspectors use some sort of outlet tester to look for reverse polarity, open grounds, missing neutrals, and to test GFCI outlets/circuits.
IN this case, where someone has installed a jumper on the outlet, a typical outlet tester would show as "OK" - a grounded outlet. Some people do this to fool an inspector.
Actually this outlet IS polarized properly. You can tell because the neutral wire is attached to the silver screw on the outlet.
Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
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Quote:
Originally Posted by southgeorgia
So do you know what the code says about remedying this situation?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bydand
I do . It will be interesting to see if anybody does. I have run across exactly 1 home inspector who knew, all the others told home owners totally wrong.
First...
I just did and experiment in my house. Wiring up a bootleg ground like that DOES appear as properly wired on a three prong circuit analyzer (Greenlee el cheapo, anyway...)
I just learned something else to look for... Thanks, Spider.
Second...
A lot of houses will have the neutral terminus and the ground terminus twisted together and connected to the grounding rod at the same point. Is that proper ground?
Third...
How are you supposed to remedy that? Put it back on a 2 prong outlet? Install a GFI with the downstream outlets covered?
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Why are they not using a tester??????
. It will be interesting to see if anybody does. I have run across exactly 1 home inspector who knew, all the others told home owners totally wrong.
