Fix Open Ground Outlets | 4 Options

have you been told your outlet has an open ground that is an unsafe condition and you should do something about it open grounds simply means that it's not connected when you plug an appliance in that third prong that grounding prong is the safety feature if your device was to Short Circuit something gets electrocuted uh in the Box this will help the power will return to the ground safely disperse into the Earth you do not want to leave an open ground Outlet that's considered unsafe I'm going to give you four options with open grounds option one you could do nothing however I would not advise that that is an unsafe condition you are fooling people into thinking you have a safe grounded Outlet when you don't that ground prong is not connected to anything option two replace it with a two-prong outlet now before you get to replace the outlet of course make sure to turn the power off with the power off you can pull back your outlet and you can double check back there if you have a ground wire if your house was recently renovated or around 1960s you actually might have a ground wire back there that is simply not connected not connected to the ground screw so you want to look for that or if it's a loose or poor connection you will not get a ground reading on your tester so check for that but yes option two would simply be to replace the outlet with an ungrounded Outlet so they actually still sell these these two prong ungrounded Outlets you will need that to possibly pass a home inspection or a rental code certification inspection you can't leave the deceiving ungrounded Outlet in there now of course this is inconvenient you're going to have to use cheater plugs like this to plug in three prong Outlets but that still can lack safety because you still really don't have a connection there unless you have a metal electrical box and the metal box is connected all the way back to your circuit panel and ground then you still don't have a safe connection so even though this is option two it's probably not the best option but in some cases I have seen it option three rewire your house you'll have to figure out a way to get ground wire to each of your Outlets that you need grounded now if you look closely at a RX wire there's the black side which is hot the neutral side which is white and the ground which is the bare copper wire that bare copper wire is all you need to ground this it has to go to the main panel box grounding bus bar which then goes to the Earth ground rod it is expensive and difficult as you imagine to run all new wiring throughout the house but it is an option you may want to reserve that option unless you're doing a total renovation or maybe you're removing old plaster and drywall to the studs option four and the best option the safest option you're going to replace the ungrounded Outlet with a modern GFI outlet GFCI ground fault circuit interruptor Outlets are easily purchased I have a link in the description below and um they will meet all code certifications you will pass rental department certification and your home inspection ground fault circuit interruptor Outlets are safety devices that will still give you fault protection even without a provided ground we're going to show you how easy this is to install now at your GFCI outlet you'll have a sticker from the manufacturer you can completely leave that sticker on there's no reason to remove that that's only for Downstream protection if you're going to protect other outlets in your house that's not required and it's actually less confusing and easier just to leave it on only protect the one Outlet at a time so with the power off simply going to remove the old Outlet strip off the insulation this is size uh 14 wire you may have the thicker 12 gauge wire okay now in the back of your GFI outlets they're really welld designed you simply loosen up the screws the gold screw will be the black wire the silver screw will be the white wire so it's color coded now you may have extra wires in the Box going to other outlets you are going to want to include and attach that here otherwise your other outlets in the same room may not have power so this is where you will put the other wire is if you have additional wires to other outlets on this one it's the end of the line we just have one outlet and it is clearly labeled in the back it says hot wire and white wire your hot wire is your black one so it simply slides straight in you don't have to hook the wire if your Old Wire had a hook on it go ahead and straighten it out goes right behind that pressure plate all the way in you don't want a lot of copper exposed and tighten that on up that's it you can choose whether you want the ground prong facing down or facing up that is not a code compliant thing you can you can put it any direction you want some people at this step do like to wrap the exposed wire terminals with electrical tape that's up to you it's not required kind of depends how snugly this uh new GFCI outlet is fitting if it's really tight in there and you're concern that it's going to touch anything else go ahead and do it okay and then your new cover plate sometimes it comes in the GFI kit sometimes it does not they are the rectangular shape cover plate um you're not going to use the old one it's not going to fit in the box for your GFI will also come all of the safety installation instructions and the sticker kit the reason you need a sticker kit is to to make this Outlet meet code compliant and to be able to pass future inspections you actually do have to include and apply those stickers so in this case the correct sticker reads no equipment ground even though we have a safety outlet here we still have to label it as no equipment ground so everybody that looks at the three-prong outlet won't be deceived by far the four options I think this is the best option the most practical for most people putting a GFI safety outlet in your ungrounded uh room Outlets will provide Extra Protection for your family members and your loved ones hey I bet you can do it yourself

Channel: Home Rapid Repair

Views: 7,507

Keywords: home improvement, everyday home repairs, Open ground, Outlet, diy

Id: usCAgg4MFGc

Length: 6min 39sec (399 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 31 2024