Ungrounded outlets

white29

So I'm headed down to my daughter and son in law's 1st house in Lynchburg,Virginia later this week to help out with some of the fix- its they need. I was unable to get down there to look the place over before they bought it but did have a home inspection done by a highly recommended guy.He found that the outlets on the 1st floor were ungrounded. He did say that the wiring was Romex so I figured no big deal, I'd just have to run pigtails inside the box to properly ground the outlets, which I figured I'd replace anyway.I still hope this is the case,but some investigation tells me that not all Romex had ground wires(this place was built in 1949). I know I can also install either a GFI breaker or outlets, labeling "No equipment ground. If I chose this latter option would I still use two prong outlets or could I go to the three? Also, the house is a ranch so it may be fairly easy for me just to pull new Romex if I want to go that way. Your input is appreciated. Thanks,Don

Jim Port

If the GFI protection is installed a three prong receptacle can be installed. As you noted it would need to be marked "No Equipment Ground".

Unfortunately the NM that it sounds like you will be dealing with pre-dates even the NM with the under-sized ground.

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Answers based on the National Electrical Code. Local amendments may apply. Check with your local building officials.

white29

Thanks Jim. Yeah , I've got a feeling this is going to be old stuff. I just worked with some of that stuff with the small ground a couple of weeks ago at my sisters "new" house. Some real electrical nightmares there! If I have time at my daughters I might just go ahead and run some new 12/2.