Posted by: Doug Robinson on December 30, 2000 at 13:06:53

In Reply to: Electrical Grounding Posted by: Brian K. on September 13, 2000 at 22:07:34

Is it enough to ground an outlet to the receptacle box with a 'tail' coming off of the receptacle? I'm in a house that is over 100 yrs old and I've been replacing the two prong receptacles with three prong receptacles and have been grounding the new receptacles to the metal receptacle boxes. Will this ground the outlets? Am I creating a fire hazzard by doing this? Without knowing which outlet is the first one coming off of the circuit breaker box, is grounding the receptacles to their boxes safe? I would really appreciate any advice! Sincerely,Doug

I will close on a house that was built in 1954. It does not have ground in part of the house,(an addition was built in 1972). How do I ground the older circuits of the house and is it something a laymen with good skills can do?

First ,a few questions, Does the outer jacket have a metalic or non-metalic sheath? If it is metallic, then your grounding path occurs along the metal armor (your devices still need to be grounded to the box w/ a grounding tail however. If the cable is ungrounded romex, you can provide protection for you family by installing "GFCI" receptacles at the first device after the electrical panel, (this may be hard to determine if you can't trace the circuitry), and this proceedure can only be done on 2 wire circuits -multiwire circuits sharing the same neutral(white)wire cannot use this method.
Finally, make sure that the 1972 addition wiring is not aluminum wiring. If it is ,you must tail off each device w/ copper wire using "penetrox" at the splices. I am giving you scenarios to look for. After you evaluate the situation, you must decide whether you have the skill and know-how to rectify the situation. I see too many people that think they can do electrical work create potential fire traps and absolute violations of the National Electrical Code.Good Luck...Brian

Nope. Not a layman job. Don't kid yourself.

You may have a service panel that has no ground features and needs to be completely upgraded.

You may have knob and tube wiring that needs to be completly replaced.

Only a professional electrician along with your local electrical inspector can determine the situation.