Another Dumb question - Self grounding outlets

robertmee · 10-24-2007, 05:16 PM

This old home stuff is getting to me. I'm used to plastic box installs and a ground pigtail to the outlet. The current old home we bought has a combination of plastic and metal boxes. I've found an online source for ordering self-grounding outlets ($3.97 for box of 10). My question is do all self grounding outlets also include a ground terminal for plastic box applications? The lady on the phone said it did but I'm not certain she understood my question, so I'm checking with the experts. Me, I'd rather ground both box and outlet and not rely on the spring clip, but the price seems hard to beat, otherwise I'd go with Levitons or similar. As an alternative, is their a good online source to purchase boxes of outlets?

Jim Port · 10-24-2007, 06:15 PM

Before you think about installing the self grounding devices you need to verify whether your wiring method can be used to provide the ground.

How old is the house wiring and what type of cables or conduit was used?

robertmee · 10-24-2007, 06:19 PM

No conduit, each 12/2 has a green ground wire. Appears to be standard white jacketed romex.

Stubbie · 10-24-2007, 11:53 PM

Yes all receptacle types have a green screw for grounding. $3.97 for ten outlets give me concern though. That is slightly above the price of one good quality self grounding outlet yet alone 10 of them. Also if you have a green ground wire in romex your house is haunted.....

Stubbie

robertmee · 10-25-2007, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stubbie

Yes all receptacle types have a green screw for grounding. $3.97 for ten outlets give me concern though. That is slightly above the price of one good quality self grounding outlet yet alone 10 of them. Also if you have a green ground wire in romex your house is haunted.....

Stubbie

Why is it haunted? I'm used to bare, but this Romex has an insulated green, although it's a weird insulation. It's rectangular instead of round. And very stiff, almost like paper based instead of polymer. But it is definitely formed insulation (not a paper wrap) and requires strippers to remove.

BTW, here's the link to the outlets, if anyone has any experience ordering from them: http://www.kk-lite.com/p/wiring-devi...klid=30-R15-SW

HouseHelper · 10-25-2007, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robertmee

Why is it haunted? I'm used to bare, but this Romex has an insulated green, although it's a weird insulation. It's rectangular instead of round. And very stiff, almost like paper based instead of polymer. But it is definitely formed insulation (not a paper wrap) and requires strippers to remove.

And I'll bet the ground wire is a smaller gauge than the other (#16). Early NM cable with ground was made like this. Probably from the early '60s.

robertmee · 10-25-2007, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HouseHelper

And I'll bet the ground wire is a smaller gauge than the other (#16). Early NM cable with ground was made like this. Probably from the early '60s.

Yep, exactly. It is smaller.

Stubbie · 10-25-2007, 01:02 PM

Sorry.... just a figure of speech about the ground wire. It is sort of an inside joke around my area as we have a lot of older homes (1960 or so) with romex made by essex wire that has this green ground. A few strange occurrences have been noted in some of these homes....
Anyway the receptacles are most likely going to be the very low end of quality and I would suggest a better quality receptacle that has the metal yoke wrapped around the back of the receptacle instead of the glued together type on that web site.

Stubbie

robertmee · 10-25-2007, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stubbie

Sorry.... just a figure of speech about the ground wire. It is sort of an inside joke around my area as we have a lot of older homes (1960 or so) with romex made by essex wire that has this green ground. A few strange occurrences have been noted in some of these homes....
Anyway the receptacles are most likely going to be the very low end of quality and I would suggest a better quality receptacle that has the metal yoke wrapped around the back of the receptacle instead of the glued together type on that web site.

Stubbie

Any online sources for purchasing good, but economical receptacles? I'm going to have to replace them all in this home as the previous owners painted them brown. I know paint on an outlet is an NEC no-no.

Jim Port · 10-25-2007, 02:49 PM

I have never had a problem with the Pass and Seymour 3232 type receptacles