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Open ground outlet question and add new light switch

343 views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  jfguerrero1 
#1 ·
Good morning Everyone.

I am adding a couple of LED lights to my master bathroom. I ran a wire from these lights to a new light switch directly below the existing 2 light switches. The existing switches control the lights over the mirror and an exhaust fan. But there are several other cables coming into this box already - a total of 5, that I don't know where they all go. Because the box is already very crowded I do not want to add another cable to this switch box.

About a foot below this switch box is a GFI outlet. It is placed to the left of the sink cabinet. The sink cabinet is about 8' wide. This has the incoming hot cable coming in and another cable going out - I was able to trace the cable going out to a non-GFI outlet on the right side of the sink cabinet. The cable going out to the non-GFI outlet does not have the ground hooked up to anything. I tested the non-GFI outlet and I get an "Open Ground" alert on this outlet.

Question 1: Why would the ground not be connected at the GFI outlet for the second non-GFI outlet. It has been this way for about 25 years as I had never done any electrical work in this bathroom until now.

Question 2: Can I jump the hot wire from the GFI outlet to the new light switch, which I am placing directly below the 2 gang box (mentioned above)?
As already stated this 2 gang box is already crowded with cables and adding another will likely exceed its capacity, if it already isn't.

The other reason for adding the new light switch below the 2 gang box is because the space is tight. There are 2"x4"s on the left and right of the box with enough space for the 2 gang box, but no more, otherwise I would have changed out the box and added a 3 gang box.

Thanks in advance for your review and feedback.

Have a great weekend.
 
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