5 Ways To Fix Open Ground Receptacles. With code references and visuals! How to fix an open ground.

hey everyone welcome back i am the electrical code coach really excited about today's video today i'm going to talk about the five ways to satisfy open ground before we get started i got to remind you not to repeat anything in these videos just use them for educational purposes only every area is on a different code cycle you may have local ordinances make sure you work with your local electrical inspector and a licensed electrician to make sure that you're code compliant all right so let's dive right into it so first let's explain what we're talking about we are talking about today about fixing a open ground and when i say open ground i mean a complete missing ground not to be mistaken with you know this reading here which says open ground and it could mean that you completely have the ground missing but it could also mean that you do have a ground in the box and it just is present and it's just poorly or not connected at all so i want to specify this entire video is about a missing ground connection and how to satisfy it it's not about a poor ground connection that could be fixed by just tightening all the grounds in the system so just want to make that clarification with that out of the way let's get to it all right y'all so let's take a look at the first way that you can satisfy and fix an open and missing ground and i've listed these on purpose in worst to best order and the first one is you can just install a two-prong receptacle back in that location you can pick them up at your local big box store you can pick them up you can install it back and that will satisfy the open ground in that location we do have to watch out for whether or not that area needs afci protection and i'm going to expound more on that here in just a little bit but as far as satisfying there not being a ground in the box you can legally install a two-prong receptacle the second way that we can do it is we can rewire the location and this may be easier hard depending on your scenario we could come from the breaker box over up and just install a brand new wire all the way to that location and then we could legally install a three prong receptacle the third way to do it is we can actually fish a ground to that location now there are a bunch of different ways that are specified in 250.130c i'm only going to list one of them and definitely contact a qualified licensed electrician and work with your electrical inspector if you're wanting to take this route but what we're talking about here is we are talking about taking an existing location we're going to say that for this instance this location is reading an open ground but on the back side of this wall you have a receptacle that has a verified good ground what they're saying is that you can physically take a green wire from this one over and up to the one that has a good ground and you can make that connection and install a three prong receptacle at that location like i said make sure with all of these that you're working with a qualified licensed electrician and following all the laws and codes in your area the fourth way has two parts first we're going to talk about installing gfci protection at every location and this is what we're talking about here just like the receptacles that you may see in your kitchen or bathrooms you can physically install a gfci receptacle at each location that is showing a missing open ground and you can satisfy the code that way there is something that we have to do though we have to install the receptacle and then we actually have to mark it with no equipment ground and you'll get stickers inside of your box that look like this and if you'll notice it's kind of small letters in this picture but right here it's a sticker that says no equipment ground the other thing that we have to be mindful of and this receptacle here is actually an afci slash gfci receptacle at all of these locations it may be required to be afci protected as well which is a arc fault circuit interrupter the second way you can satisfy it is not by individually installing the gfci at each location but you can wire it in a manner where you can protect downstream from those gfcis and that's perfectly legal as well and you can install a three-prong receptacle at that location but there's some extra markings that we have to do we have to install the no equipment ground sticker but we also have to install that it's gfci protected and those stickers must be visible after the installation is complete either on the device or on the faceplate according to your manufacturer specifications the other thing we have to be mindful of again is whether or not we also need afci protection and make sure you follow your instructions on your gfci there may be a downstream limit to how many receptacles can be protected downstream from that original gfci and finally number five and this is the one that we probably use most often and it's installed gfci protection at the breaker panel so we'll physically come to the circuit breaker panel and we'll install something that looks like this depending on your brand normally we go ahead and install afci and gfci technology because it's usually required by code depending on what area of the home that we're working in so you can really kill two birds with one stone with this dual function breaker and what it allows us to do is take any location in the house that is showing an open missing ground and it allows us to legally install a three prong receptacle now we still must market no equipment ground and gfci protection and we have to be mindful of afci gfci protection for that location one thing i do want to note is that none of the methods that we've listed in this video except for rewiring it are going to satisfy if your piece of equipment needs a grounded outlet this does not provide a ground it just provides extra protection because if there is current leaking the gfci will shut off but if you have a piece of sensitive electronic equipment or other equipment that requires a grounded outlet the only way to satisfy that is to physically fish a wire to there using one of the methods that is listed in 250. so i hope this video added a little bit of value to you i hope that you guys have a great day i am the electrical code coach and i've dedicated my life to help you become everything that you can be in life and in the electrical industry if you need anything from me you can email me at electricalcodecoach gmail.com let's get to it [Music]

Channel: Electrical Code Coach

Views: 13,427

Keywords: Electrician, DIY, DIY Electrical, diy electrical, do it your self, do it your self electrical, do it yourself electrical, master, master electrican, master the, NEC, National Electrical, National Electrical Code, journeyman, journeyman electrician, journeyman exam prep, exam prep, electrical exam, electrical exam prep, how to electrical, romex, ibew, union electrician, commercial electrician, wireman, electrical apprentice, electrician apprentice, tripped, electrical troubleshooting

Id: 6zdXujxjm3g

Length: 6min 36sec (396 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 12 2022