Need advise on Receptical change..

Sellncars

Hello everyone,

I want to change 2 Receptacles in a bedroom, I took off the wallplate and killed the power, took one of them out and found this, No ground wire, do i have to get GFI receptacles? Sorry about the picture, I'm not an artist.

Thanks,
Sellncars

Bob Mariani

if you have no ground wire then the replacement outlets should be GFCI outlets.

Sellncars

I thank you very much, i just wanted to make sure before i went out and bought them.

jbfan

You can replace it with a gfci, or another 2 wire receptacle.

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Sellncars

First i must say that I'm not an electrician, but am safety conscience more so with electricity then anything else. ( I like life ). What I'm going after is more so a ground then just replacing these receptacles. Is the GFCI going to take care of Ground? House was built in the mid 50's and has wire that has like a mesh covering it, except where Romex has been added over the years.

Thanks,
Sellncars

Bob Mariani

The ground is used to provide a more conductive path for errant current than the human. Thus you do not get the shock. But the GFI is allowed in this case since it monitors for fault currents and shuts off when one exists over a limit that will hurt you.

Scuba_Dave

If you want a ground you will need to run new wire

brons2

Nobody suggested that he check to see if the (metal) box is grounded? I mean ok fat chance, but if it is he can install a normal outlet.

Sellncars

Thanks for the help everyone, Then it sounds like if it isn't broken don't fix it.

Sellncars

Hello,

Thanks for the thought, but not in this house, i looked and didn't see any ground wire anywhere in that small box. There are alot of things in this house that were done wrong back in the day, the wiring was apparently one of them, then the walls not being straight in areas, 3 rooms on 1 circuit, Drop ceiling in the basement not being lined up with the ceiling joist's ( Impossible to install recessed lighting in center of tiles, unless ripping it all down and redo over, had opened junction box's ( fixed now ) and so on and so on.

Termite

You can install a GFCI device or a GFCI breaker. Any ungrounded receptacles that are "3 prong" grounded receptacles on a 2 wire system must be labeled with two stickers in order to be code-legal.
1) "GFCI protected"
2) "No equipment ground"

brons2

I got some of that in my house too, including receptacles in two bathroom and two bedrooms on one circuit, total of about 14 and no GFCI. I feel much better now that I am redoing the whole thing.

busman

Maybe now is a good time to tell the story of the woman getting shocked when she washed her hands in the bathroom sink:

Husband had replaced the bathroom receptacle with a GFCI in the bathroom. Metal Gem box. No ground. He thought the GFCI protected them. He crammed the big GFCI in the small box and the hot wire on the line side of the GFCI touched the metal box. Metal box was touching iron drain pipe in wet-wall. Drains are now at 120V. Supply pipes at ground potential. If she had taken a shower instead of washing her hands, she would probably be dead.

This is not a job for a DIY. There's a reason it takes MANY years and significant training to be an electrician.

Mark

Termite

This is DIY CHATROOM, and this is a perfectly acceptable job for a DIYer. When someone's over their head that is one thing, but the OP is getting good info and doing their homework. If simple electrical work were only done by electricians, what good would this subforum be? With the proper homework and preparation (including permits and inspections) there are numerous electrical jobs in a home that a competent DIYer can handle.

Scuba_Dave

I've rewired most of my house, installed 3 sub-panels, a hot tub, pool pumps, GFCI & AFCI

All as DIY, its what this site is all about