What is your wiring method?

 

i'm not sure of the wiring method on that floor. I just know the corresponding breaker to each of the outlets.

 

Are you sure there is not a ground wire attached in the back to the metal box? If not that grounding tab does nothing and you should use a GFCI. As that can be used when no ground wire is present.

 

There is no grounding wire present in the box. I am going to test the actual metal box and see if that is grounded.

 

Read my treatise on the subject.

Most AHJs will allow people to swap switches, receptacles and lights even if they are prohibited from doing electrical work in the building (e.g. tenants, landlords, paid handpeople etc.) That doesn't mean it's simple, there are a dozen tricks and traps.

And let's be clear what self-grounding receps are. They DO NOT magically reach through The Magic Aether to touch the bottom of Thor's hammer to obtain a high current path to your grounding system. They do exactly one thing: provide a reliable connection via the mounting screw to a metal junction box. (it's not reliable if it depends on the screw head going through a normal hole). A self-grounding recep is only grounding if the metal box is reliably grounded.

Sometimes you find that jackasses have installed a 3-prong plug where no grounding exists.

If you do not have grounding available at the box, the receptacle MUST either

• be a 2-prong receptacle, or
• be GFCI protected.

If the latter, it needs a label "No Equipment Ground", and if the GFCI device is physically elsewhere, it needs a sticker "GFCI Protected".

 

Serious question ... how does a gfci trip if there isn’t a ground wire to act as a reference?

 

A GFCI does not need a ground wire to trip. The GFCI trips on an imbalance of current between the hot and neutral. A ground wire is only needed to use a gfci tester to trip for testing only.

 

Okay, then why is it called ground fault?

 

I guess you need to ask the guy that invented them.
That is what happens when an appliance has leakage current. It is referred to as a ground fault.

 

Check for voltage from the hot wire to the metal box. If you have power, add a ground wire to the box and install a standard three prong outlet. While not an ideal solution, i do believe it is still legal.


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If the metal box is grounded, there is no need to add a ground strap when using self grounding receptacles.

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The GFCI checks the balance between line and neutral, as stated. If there is an imbalance exceeding the tolerance of the GFCI, it trips. That imbalance is caused by current leaking/flowing to ground, a ground fault. It interrupts the power circuit in case of a ground fault, hence its name. If your body is part of that ground fault path, you have a bad day.

 

just because you seem super interested in safe work procedure, let me give you some more bullets:

• with power on, test your volt meter in a socket (can be any socket, this proves the volt meter works). remember to use AC setting. plug in a lamp or a radio and see/hear power is alive.
• turn off power at breaker and LOCK IT OUT especially if you have family members who might get annoyed that power is out, forgot that you told everyone to not touch. you can buy lock outs for any kind of breaker panel although you may need to visit a local distributor to find it. most people won't do this step because it adds unexpected delay, so, as an absolute minimum take green painter tape (something you probably have) and tape electrical panel closed and write on the tape DO NOT ENTER (this is not a good approved method, its just better than nothing)
• with power off, test receptacle with proven working volt meter. a loud blasting radio is a good way to find which breaker shuts off the power if you're working alone.
• plug in a light or radio as 2nd way to confirm no voltage present (you always need two methods, usually visual + test)

 

my friend, iif you look in the box and you see the black & white wire coming in and NO bare copper then its likely the box is not grounded. Its possible that the box is connected via EMT (metal conduit) but i doubt it, would be super rare in residential application. So i would suggest that this receptical be replaced with a GFCI to make it safe but you may have uncovered a problem in the electrical wiring of your house. what if your wiring has NO GROUND on many (all!?) receptacles? this is a real issue that needs to be resolved asap. By the way.. this was exactly my issue when i moved into our 125yr old house.. inspector said "no visible knob & tube" and then later i found out ya... its full of knob and tube, just none of it visible. ho hum.. fell for that one. re-wired entire house, but it was a good time to add all the lights and wall sconces and recepticals where i wanted them.

 

Thanks for responding, @Knucklez - So just for the sake of testing - I removed the old outlet and installed the Leviton with the self grounding tab. Once i finished installing the outlet i turned the power back on... I used my tester and got this reading...

This is the reading i got for every outlet in my condo unit. Now... if the receptacle wasn't grounded - wouldn't i get an open ground reading? I also used a Klein Tool ET45 voltage meter to test the ground hole to the hot hole and was getting a 120v reading. Is this enough evidence to assume that this particular receptacle is grounded somehow some way? The home in question is a condo unit built in the early 80's.

 

You have type AC wiring, commonly called BX.

If the condo was from the 80s the cable would be providing a compliant ground.

 

You are getting a ground from the armoured cable used to wire the house.

 

Thanks for the help everyone!