Absolutely impeccable video..very clear and detailed. I learned something today, thank you for sharing your knowledge and for putting together such an awesome video...5 stars!
As a electricien in the Netherlands i am amazed about the way this is made!A metal box(so it will conduct electrity) and a inner socket with open connections to the hot wire and neutral wire.And the earth wire without shielding! As i see this,its a shortcut waiting to happen!!And you know it,because you have to put electrical tape around to prevent that to happen..We never use a metal box with the only excepting of the breaker box in our electrical system.And even that is more and more times made off plastic.So i can proudly say that we have the safest electrical system in Europe!!
This is by design, you want any exposed hot wire to short in the box and not involve a person. By using a non-metallic box you reduce the chance of having a sufficient return path to conduct enough current to trip the breaker - allowing the possibility of an exposed hot wire to send current over a number of paths for an extended period of time (again, possibly) resulting in heat buildup, arcing, and an electrical fire.
Saved this to my playlist. Your quality in explaining and demonstration is unparalleled! I have a question, excuse my ignorance, and anyone that actually knows is more than welcome to respond. He replaced the wire between the two, which has a 3rd ground wire. That was connected to the previous outlet, and then to the outlet he took apart. Why the screw? Hypothetically speaking, if an outlet in an older home is changed out in the same manner, but there is NO screw at the box being changed, must there me a screw through the metal box into the studs, connecting the ground that is 'pigtailed'? Extremely ignorant question I'm sure, sorry. Thank you for the video! Definitely subbed!
What if your house was built in 55 and opening up the walls and completely gutting the house is out of the picture? Is there another way to fix a two wire home with open ground?
@manletopia4801 mine was built in 61. Every single receptacle has an open ground. I installed gfci's on one complete circuit, but only one of 3 have correct wiring. Whats up with this?
Same. We have some new and some really old wiring. I ended up starting to replace those 3 pronged outlets with gfci. Expensive, but cant really tear out all that old wiring. It’s all stapled in there to the studs. I wish it was so easy just running a ground wire.
excellent video. I love your attention to little details. It seems that very few electricians now adays take the time to wrap the outlet with electrical tape or in some cases don't even take the time to screw down the unused terminals. I have a situation in my house where the cable company is reading a about 50 volt charge back feeding one of the coax lines. The technician thinks it could be an open ground. Any suggextions would be appreciated.
13:05 I never seen two outlets installed side by side on an open wall. With an obviously installation defect. I found an open ground on an outlet probably installed around 79, a fireplace sperates twin sockets on that wall. The ground wire is present and connected So where did it get disconnected, I guess I'll start pulling out sockets closest to and work my way out. Then again all grounds report back to the panel so I'll probably have to pull all the grounds to find which outlet it's wired in parallel to
The outlets in video are likely placed as they are in order to facilitate an example. Same outlets are used in other videos to demonstrate examples of a different problem.
Thanks for the video. My people in Vietnam would just said this box near other box so they must be continuity, no check whatsoever. But you, you take a step further and double check it, I really like that. It's really profesional to not assume anything and always testing before handling. Also I have a question, should the ground wire be naked or insulated?
FWIW. There is no Neutral wire in either box. It is a grounded conductor, according to the code book. All the rest is educational and helpful. Thank you for showing the value of checking everything for correct connections and voltage. Also for using a voltage detector repeatedly. These little tools are priceless. Also. Many choose to use a crimp sleeve or a green wire nut. The crimp sleeve is a much more definite connection, and takes up much less space.
I have a Southwire 40010S-A receptacle tester. It has one red light and two orange lights. It also has a diagram that shows what the lights read and if there's a wiring problem. All the outlets I have re-installed and tested show to be correct wiring.
Thanks for your educational video. How come you don’t wire the incoming cable at the top pare of terminals and outgoing cable on to the bottom terminal set , just like GFCI receptacle’s line and load ?
check upstream until you find a grounded outlet. I have seen where someone replaced the metal box with a plastic one and connected the ground to the plastic box. If all of the outlets are not showing ground, check the external connection to the grounding rod.
Question: my buddy of mine house is wired in the back in 60’s and has two prong receptacles in a room and needs to be changed to three prog receptacles. To help out, I would install GFCI in the home run box and identify the home run and wire that to the Line side and the other wires to the load side. Then change out the rest of the receptacles with GFCI and wire them on line side? Since no ground, if I install a ground pigtail, would that fix the “open ground”?
Think he has a video specifically on this. Think he just installed gfci on the first box from the breaker then 3 prong outlets after that with proper labeling. They still show up as open ground but are IAW code.
You fix the open ground with the text: "No equipment ground." It tells the tester (a person) to expect open ground. If you want to ground it you need to run a separate ground wire or preferably rewire completely with three wires.
Grandpa was a sparky and I inherited his tools. I now own two of these and ive never known this. I appreciate you sharing this info. Wish id have learned more and channels like this have been helpful.
@@normferguson2769 im actually looking into classes. I dont need the profession due to already being a diesel mechanic, but id like to know some of the things he did. I can afford the classes so I'm gonna enroll this year when enrollment is up.
Why are all the receptacles in my home (built 1993) have the neutral white wires switched, that is, the terminals on top have a black wire from one cable and the white wire from the other cable, same on bottom terminals? I guess it's ok since the receptacle tester says so and they do work. But when I changed one to an AFCI receptacle, and wired it the same way, it didn't work. I had to switch the white wires so they were across from the black wires of the same cable? I hope that's clear!
Did you check in the switch and in the light fixture. 99% of the time shorts are at the termination points of the wires, so it would probably be at either of those points.
he is basically saying run it again with three wire. Thats really the best solution, albeit often impractical. GFCI is probably your next best bet if a legit ground isnt practically reached, but thats just my opinion
To the transformer on the street...and depending on the system, it is going back to the generator in the power plant with points in between where it is grounded. The neutral is a grounded conductor, a so called "operational ground". That what you simply call "ground" is the "protective ground". That's the reason the NEC calls the neutral also "grounded conductor".
I was installing outlets in an addition built onto my house years ago. Had a friend over who was a licensed electrician, he was just kinda supervising me on the little stuff. I had finished connecting the wires on one of the outlets and was folding the wires back into the box, when he snuck up behind me and clapped really loud. He had to go find a really big scraper to peel me off the ceiling that day...
Great video! I loved the detail. I will definitely pick up those wireless tools. Much better than hollering to my wife “Is the light off?” I think she will be very happy to no longer be involved in that process!
Excellent video. Please, I hope you can help. How to I find the first receptacle on the circuit? I'm trying to install a afci/gfci and control all the outlets downstream.
Another way to check continuity is by shorting the black and white conductors in the upgraded box and ohming out the black and white in the old groundless box.
this is also a handy trick to de-energize the branch without walking to the panel (I am not an electrician) does anybody actually do this in the field? seems like a great time saver edit: also good to map out all unmarked breakers
I think contractor in the 50's and earlier were a-holes. They made everything so complicated. Electricians didn't color code the wires and used stiff wires that are hard to bend and cut. Hell! even Ben Franklin knew about grounding. Carpenters made walls out of sheetrock and plaster instead of wood or drywall Plumbers welded everything and they all used flat head screws instead of Philips head screws. now-a-days its the complete opposite. They even have helpful youtube video's.
So my house is from the 50s and all my outlets read open ground. Does that mean I have to rewire the entire house? Or can I ground each one to the metal box if available? Will that actually do anything or is the box too small to act as a ground and will it heat up and possibly cause a fire if a surge occurs?
If the box is not grounded, and you wire a ground towards it, it won't doo anything. And like you said, if there is a surge it can possibly cause a fire which I heard stories about. Apparently a workaround is too install a GFCI outlet since it finds faults without using a ground wire, or just use a 2 prong outlet. Or, the last step which will cost a bit more is just too rewire the entire house like you mentioned before. Hope this helps, cheers. :)
Haven't finished yet but just seen were its a two wire system. Instead of running a new wire because that's easier said than done you can also put it on a GFCI of GFCI breaker and it will pass code as well.
I added a plug in a metal box with bx to a flex house. And I’m getting an open ground even with all the ground connections spliced through and ground screws used. The only place I didn’t use a ground screw was under the house in the crawl space I just wrapped the ground around the 8-32 that the metal blank plate goes on. Do you think that is the issue?
Let's say I have an old house with no proper grounding in the different outlets. Can I pull a grounding cable and connect to one of the outlet box; then from that box, connect another ground cable to other outlet boxes? The idea is to avoid to rewire the entire house.
For the first socket in each line run replace with a GFI. Make sure you put the "no equipment ground" sticker on the face plate. On the others in this circuit you can use a normal grounded type but you also need to sticker it the same plus add the "GFI protected." Both of these stickers will be included with the GFI. This is code but remember without the real ground modern electronics equipment will not be as protected as if the ground ran back to the panel. Since you speak of it being an older home suggest you start by buying a slim-line GFI because the box might be too small or tight for the normal size.
A question for help. My issue in a 10 year old residency system. My problem started with an open ground checked power bottom of receptacle was fine recheck upper and no open ground My problem is the trouble is shifting to different outlets then other rooms. Any help ?
At 3:00, just because the tester says that there is ground, that doesn't mean that ground was set up properly. Some idiot would just decide to connect ground directly to neutral within its own outlet, so be careful about that assumption.
Thank you for this. most scenarios won't have people breaking open the walls to replace the wire inside the walls. The GFCI is ideal. Heres my question though, if you installed a new 14/2 on the GFCI but the electric panel doest have ground, where would the ground on that 14/2 go? Just wrap it up and put it to the side?
@@VOLTRONDEFENDER4440 Here's my scenerio. At the meter, there are two hot wires (black) and one neutral (white). The white is connected to a ground in the meter box. Those 3 wires go into the main panel from the meter panel. The two black wires are attached the the main breaker in the main panel. The white is connected to a bus bar. The Bus bar is joined with a crossing to the bus bar on the left side of the box. On the right bus bar where the white wire is connected, there is a long thick white wire that goes through the main panel and into the subpanel inside of the home. That wire is connected (white wire that is grounded at the meter box) on the neutral side. Is this supposed to be this way? Since the neutral is grounded, can the neutral be used as a ground in the sub-panel? Why or why not?
Great video. I am in a new house and our hall lights stopped turning on. My Husband rested and found an outlet in the same area is an open ground 🤦🏽♀️. Do you think this method here will help get the power back on for the lights? Thx in advance.
I wouldn’t worry yet about the open ground in the receptacle close by, stuck with the hall fixture and switch first. Familiarize yourself with the basics of any multi-meter. Start at the switch and determine if you have 120v going to the bottom post of your light switch. Let us know from there 👍
Neutral & ground have different purposes. Neutral is provided as a return path for the load current. Ground is provided so that touch surfaces stay at zero potential. Neutral normally carries current while ground does not. If local neutral rises above ground potential because of excessive current or poor connectivity (high resisatance), ground will not be affected and still provide zero potential at the connected touch surfaces (appliance chassis, electronic equipment cases, etc.).
@@zacharybarnett5609 but usually if you use the stab ins, there usually a one time use because you have too press the tabs to get the wires out which can deform/damage the tabs on the inside making the connection a lot weaker.
Great video ! And right to thw very important point ! No wasting time showing uncrewing or screwing things and showing face ! Like other videos ! Thank you so much!
Hi Sparky. Very informative video. Maybe you can help me with this. I bought some surge protectors from amazon and they all have lights for protected and ground. However when I plug them into the wall outlets at home some of the surge protectors show not grounded/protected but when I plug in a different surge protector it shows grounded/protected. I bought the surge protectors at the same time from Amazon a week ago. Also, I checked the outlets with a receptacle tester and I get the two lights for correct wiring. I went around the house and plugged the surge protectors/receptacle tester into various outlets with the same results. Is it a surge protector problem or something with the house wiring? thanks!
Great vid. Next time just leave 12 inches of bare copper in the box with no ground and then do this: wrap the bare copper around the metal box bonding screw, then continue to the green terminal of the receptacle. That way u eliminate the extra wago, no pig tail needed, and the ground 100% continuous. Solid grounds with the least number of breaks are greatly preferable. Woohoo
I have a question: So at my grandparents house I used to have a 2 prong receptacle and could not hold in a plug, then later was replaced with a 3 prong with 2 USB ports and has a no equipment ground sticker. Would this be fine or should it be changed?
If it is GFCI protected then it is fine, but if it is not GFCI protected and then you should install a GFCI outlet on the first outlet in the circuit which is usually located closest to the breaker panel but it can sometimes be kind of tricky to locate or you could install a GFCI Circuit breaker assuming they have a circuit breaker panel not a fuse box
@@TechHowden there is no GFCI in the circuit last I checked but there was 2 wires and I assume one goes to another outlet and the other wires are the live wires
Hi, I followed your instructions to fix 5 open ground outlets in my house. They are all 3 prong outlets and have a ground wire, but somehow the ground wire wasn't connected. I connected the ground wire and 3 of them worked great, but the last 2 outlets still show up as open ground. I also noticed that those 2 outlets share the same circuit breaker. Any idea what seems to be the culprit? Thanks!
Perhaps there’s a box where the grounds were not connected on the cable the exits the box and feeds one of your open ground outlets. You should just open every outlet on that circuit and double check everything.
Run new wires through the whole thing, or install GFI. Could do one at every outlet, could do 1 at the first outlet and protect everything down stream, or you can just replace the whole circuit breaker with a GFI breaker.
I have the same open ground issue but the biggest problem with it is that I have a ground attached to the receptical and when I check for voltage with my tester I touch the hot wire there's current, I touch the neutral there's no current, but when I touch the ground there's current going to it. I plug in my outlet tester and it says I have an open ground. And when I go to trip the GFCI (it's connected to a GCFI circuit) I press the test button on my outlet tester and then it says reversed ground/hot until I let it go. Any reason why my ground is getting power to it?
In a circuit with lights and outlets, if a ground was disconnected/broken at some point, would everything downstream have an open ground even if the ground wires for those outlets and lights downstream of the issue were properly connected? Thanks!
@@claytonjames4779 I was able to find the location of the broken ground. An improperly installed ceiling fan. I can only describe the installation as “ground adjacent” ;) All fixed now.
Really appreciate the tec info…but I have a question. My garage outlet circuit indicates that I do have an open ground when I connect it to my travel trailer. I also find that I get a slight “zap” when I neal on the grass and touch the metal frame. My question is…is there more going on than just an “open ground”?
A Ground wire does not give protection from lighting or power surges. It only provides a low impedance path back to the source for faults. Grounding electrode conductors (GEC) do protect against lightning and surges, but those are two different components of the grounding and bonding system of the house.
We have an outlet where the bottom is OK but the top is showing open ground...any suggestions (am going to look into it tomorrow but any advice is welcome. I think I am going to replace the outlet) ?
Thanks for the help, I have a 1942 house that I have to do grounding on in the basement. Grandpa was a navy welder and had to do a lot of electrical, he was pretty clear with the dangers of electricity.
The most important reason for the ground is to prevent getting electrocuted by a faulty appliance. If a cable insulation inside of the appliance fails and live parts would touch the metal housing, on an ungrounded outlet the voltage would "sit and wait" for a victim to touch it. In case of a grounded housing there would be a short-circuit, tripping the circuit breaker (or blowing the fuse) almost immediatly. No chance of a person getting an electric shock. That was the reason for introducing this safety mechanism. This protective measurement was first mentioned in Germany in 1924 as a possibility, in 1932 this became mandatory in the VDE 0140 (protective measures against electric shock) which is still existent but it was modernised over the years like all regulations.
Yes, that has happened to me. I get it all wired up and then realize that I forgot the cap. LOL! The ferrules are a good idea. Also tinning the copper strands would be excellent.
@@SparkyChannel Tinning is not a good solution. There's a reason this practice is banned here since 1979. The problem is, the solder will start deform under the pressure of the screw, creating a loose connection which is also a potential fire hazard. I've seen such connections, and the wire directly fell out of the terminal just simply by gravity. It also corrodes, causing a contact resistance. If you completely solder such a connection this is not a problem, because the corrosion is only on the surface of the solder. But in this case this would be a problem. This happened several times to me that I forgot the cap. Sometimes it's not a problem when the other end of the cord isn't connected to anything yet, but sometimes....
Nice video. I'm not, sure why the 2 shorter pigtails are shielded and why the other 2 grounds are not, but I imagine it's to better identify pigtails from the "running," permanent, ground conductor wire. If you are asking in general, why not shielded, I'm still learning myself, but one reason, ground wire are exposed because they "attract" "loose/wild/unplanned" electricity better than sheathed wires. This extra attraction is a safety measure, because it is a backup unsheathed wire that will conduct unplanned electricity, instead of unplanned electricity conducting to that screw driver you may be holding. Unsheilded wire will attract unplanned electricity and conduct it to the ground rod outside the house and then the rod conducts unplanned electricity to water underground and dissipates it over a larger surface area until electric field returns to some equilibrium. When working with a screw driver around outlets, this is why they are sometimes rubberized coating, any unsafe/unplanned current will shock and zap itself to most desirable/least resistance thing, in this case, unshielded copper wire. One thing occurred to me, why did he say Neutral coming "from" the power source around that same time in the video? I thought neutral always wants to and is "returned" back to the main panel/ the source. So if I'm right, Hot wires are least safe conductor, Neutrals are the next safety backup conductor because they give Hot wires a return path. Unsheiled ground wires are a safety backup conductor to this hot-to-neutral loop that is always trying to be in balance from 117-124 volts. There is like a field of power around any wire that has current, with fingers, hands, tools, appliances, phone charges, all these things working around or in or near receptacles, unshielded ground wire is the safe wire to conduct unplanned current. And maybe those pigtails are coated with rubber because if lighting strikes a roof and then flows to some nearest metal, lightning will want to first touch the main exposed ground wire instead of sheathed pigtal flowing to the receptacle.
I agree. It's best to have grounded circuits. I got scammed buying this house. All new Romex in and out of the circuit breaker panel box, but what was hidden, was it was tied into older wires that are 2 conductors and insulated with asbestos. Probably going to drill holes in my floor and run conduit to the existing receptacles in the wall, add an extension box, and just leave the old wiring dormant. Unless it just eats at me, then I am going to be taking down one side of certain walls and pulling new wire. I hate the idiot that wired this house. At least the J boxes and gang boxes are steel, but the idiot used nails instead of screws. And I can't figure out how he got them hammered so tight inside the box. Long nails too. I doubt it was a nail gun. Even so, those would not have fit inside the box either. So that's a nightmare. A saws all or reciprocating saw doesn't make it any easier. Just a little faster but a lot of sparks and metal dust.
My tester similar looking like you show, Sears product shows 1 green only in the center for Open ground. Why does your demo show 1 green also, but its an extreme left.?
6:49 you have proven continuity but not necessarily "1 box away" There could be a box in between these two that is pig-tailed that would give that same reading.
They're not cheap.. a 2 port will run about $0.23.. a 3-port around $0.40 and so forth.. they have 2, 3, 5 and 8 port models. Search sites like Amazon but really research because prices are all over the board. The "kits" tend to run high. If you use them a lot then get them in boxes of like 50 or so.. cheaper that way. I love them and use them constantly. Some situations not so much, like where you already have several wire twisted together.. you'd then have to cut them all to get a nice straight end for the Wago. I re-wire tons of fluorescent fixtures to ballast bypass LED fixtures and they are great for that. Also great for times when you may be connecting and disconnecting a lot. Makes it soooo easy.
@@bryanknudsen8100 yeah, Amazon isn't always the place to get the best deal anymore! Too many people buy and resale on there to try and make money from home, but Wegos are more reliable than wire nuts in my experience. I still buy things from Amazon, but a person has to pick and choose with caution. Almost every review I've given on there in the last 12 months has been blocked, and most of them were good reviews, so you never know what you are getting. Some of the reviews I've seen in the past are user error problems, but everyone should be allowed to say what they want about the products they buy, and let people sift through the garbage! I bought 3 sprinklers recently, and they claimed 33'. I didn't say anything about that, I simply said I made to hoses 19' to daisy chain them together, and they speed up the time it takes me to water my lawn. That's what they blocked. I'm really to the point that I don't want to attempt to give a review, and I think everyone should. Because they don't let people give an honest review. People would be better off looking at it and taking the chance, and return it if they don't like it. If you are researching that type of product on Amazon, you may be looking in the wrong place. Because you may be getting an inferior knockoff of the product that isn't rated for the same amperes etc.
I replaced a switch with and switch/outlet combo. The switch previously didn’t have a ground wire. The light connected to the switch has a ground that is tied into the natural wiring in the circuit. When I turned the power back on the outlet in the switch test as grounded. How is this possible and is it actually safe?
@Sparky Channel, I believe Mr. Steffen wants to use half of a GFI outlet as a switched receptacle and the other half of the GFI outlet as a always hot receptacle. I know you have posted a video on how to wire an outlet just like that, but it doesn't mention if using a GFI outlet is acceptable.
No, you can't. GFCI terminals have different purposes. Two are marked LOAD, and the other two are marked LINE. LINE terminals are connected to power source, and LOAD terminals are connected to downstream outlets to extend GFCI protection if desired.
Why does my Fluke non-contact tester (as seen @ 1:56 ) show 'Hot' when inserted in the narrow slot of the outlet when the breaker is off and both a VOM and plug in outlet tester show a dead circuit?
Probably a faulty tester, which doesn't surprise me. I recently got a Southwire version to replace my long time Greenlee which worked perfectly. It gave false readings like yours is doing right out of the box.
@@ICSpotz I don't trust them anyway. Just a little more confirmation that the power is off. My panel is in the garage so I'll even close the garage door lest some nefarious neighbor creeps in and switches the breaker back on.
thx for posting! I have a technical question: I live in a new house and I am a guitar player with high end guitar tube amps.The problem I have is that regularly, there will be a horrendous buzz in the amp.This problem is intermittent. I fully understand the 60 cycle hum coming from single coil pickups on a Fender but this noise is intermittent.The sound appears even when I am on hum cancelling positions on the guitar. My ground wire is connected to the water pipe.I thought maybe the problem is there.Should I drill a hole and directly go in the Earth instead of the water inlet pipe?Any opinions on this? I even though of calling the Hydro-Quebec on this matter.I live in Canada.It can be quiet for many days and it suddenly comes back for 4-5 days and then goes away..I am in the middle of it right now. thx and have a good life!
Robert, I suspect you're getting noise from another circuit. (I'm guessing). Would it be possible to run a dedicated circuit to where you plug in your instruments? This new circuit would need to be grounded at your main panel. This would eliminate a lot of electrical possibilities that may be causing the problem.
You don't have ground rods or a direct to earth ground? A cold water bond only might be the reason, but you should properly pound in some ground rods for the hell of it.
I have both ran sound systems and installed sound systems. If doing a new install and in a revamping of a system when possible (95+%) we would install isolated circuits for the sound system. That is a 2 stage process. 1 the circuit(s) used must be separated (isolated) from the rest of the ground system. An isolated grounding system must be installed for this circuit(s) usually a grounding rod is used that is separated by distance (your local code should provide a min distance). Use as great a distance as is possible but must meet code requirements. (Sorry, I have no clue as to what Canada uses for their electrical code). Like your random hum comes from something in your electrical system that is not always in use when playing. My experience is lights are one of the biggest noise causes. But any electric item can be the source. Since your house electrical system is largely interconnected via the grounding wire and neutral wire, it could be from most anything. This is from a hair dryer being used in a bathroom or bedroom from the other end of the house to the garbage disposal in your kitchen to an outside outlet or light.
@@SparkyChannel hey Bill. The dedicated circuit is a thought but from a sound tech and sound installer perspective, I would suggest and ISOLATED ground in addition to a dedicated circuit. The issue with panel connected ground and neutral is the noise can be transmitted across these. Isolating the ground is doable (not necessarily easy) where as to dedicate a neutral requires a dedicated panel unless you know a trick I do not.
I have an entire circuit that has open ground on all the receptacles and also when I test the light switch for continuity of the neutral and ground there is no continuity. Also the voltage test shows no path back to ground. Only path back on the neutral. What could be the problem? Perhaps the circuit isn’t properly grounded at the service panel???
maybe one or more outlet is/are wire incorrectly, having the return wire on inline position, for continuity on neutral and ground, you should take the far away outlet and add the ground wire to neutral on the outlet, the incoming ground cable add it to the box itself, maybe this work for you. ps. make sure you have correct ground at main braker.
Logically, yes. Legally, maybe/maybe not. You can, however, run a separate ground wire from any other close-by outlet as long as they are both fed power from the same mains panel. This solution is probably much easier than installing another grounding rod, anyway. ;-]
No. by adding a green wire that is attached to the metal outlet box and the green screw (or grounding lug) on the outlet, you are simply making the ground potential of the two "even" . Neither the metal outlet box or the outlet itself are grounded or connected to the circuit in any way until a physical wire runs from the main panel to the first outlet box and then to the second one. Simply adding a green wire and even sticking it through the wall and then into the dirt outside wouldn't work either. The term ground means more than just something touching dirt somewhere, Lol
Well if is ground short the breaker will trip, therefore you cannot check it ,I don't understand how you are able to curry out the test with the power braker off
Absolutely impeccable video..very clear and detailed. I learned something today, thank you for sharing your knowledge and for putting together such an awesome video...5 stars!
Thanks so much Cesar!
Thanks soo much for this video! Every time I hit a snag in a project, I now come here first for answers!
Fantastic!
As a electricien in the Netherlands i am amazed about the way this is made!A metal box(so it will conduct electrity) and a inner socket with open connections to the hot wire and neutral wire.And the earth wire without shielding!
As i see this,its a shortcut waiting to happen!!And you know it,because you have to put electrical tape around to prevent that to happen..We never use a metal box with the only excepting of the breaker box in our electrical system.And even that is more and more times made off plastic.So i can proudly say that we have the safest electrical system in Europe!!
This is by design, you want any exposed hot wire to short in the box and not involve a person. By using a non-metallic box you reduce the chance of having a sufficient return path to conduct enough current to trip the breaker - allowing the possibility of an exposed hot wire to send current over a number of paths for an extended period of time (again, possibly) resulting in heat buildup, arcing, and an electrical fire.
What do you do if you have a ground but it isnt grounded?
Saved this to my playlist. Your quality in explaining and demonstration is unparalleled! I have a question, excuse my ignorance, and anyone that actually knows is more than welcome to respond. He replaced the wire between the two, which has a 3rd ground wire. That was connected to the previous outlet, and then to the outlet he took apart. Why the screw? Hypothetically speaking, if an outlet in an older home is changed out in the same manner, but there is NO screw at the box being changed, must there me a screw through the metal box into the studs, connecting the ground that is 'pigtailed'? Extremely ignorant question I'm sure, sorry. Thank you for the video! Definitely subbed!
Best teacher for this kind of stuff on youtube!
Thanks so much!
What if your house was built in 55 and opening up the walls and completely gutting the house is out of the picture? Is there another way to fix a two wire home with open ground?
Consider a gfci receptacle and/or breaker.
Can you go from a metal box to a plastic box and just hook al three wires hooked up to the color it matches to 😊
sometimes in old houses there is a 18 gauge ground clamped to the metal box just replaced a microwave oven outlet in a 1930s house recently
@manletopia4801 mine was built in 61. Every single receptacle has an open ground. I installed gfci's on one complete circuit, but only one of 3 have correct wiring. Whats up with this?
Same. We have some new and some really old wiring. I ended up starting to replace those 3 pronged outlets with gfci. Expensive, but cant really tear out all that old wiring. It’s all stapled in there to the studs. I wish it was so easy just running a ground wire.
excellent video. I love your attention to little details. It seems that very few electricians now adays take the time to wrap the outlet with electrical tape or in some cases don't even take the time to screw down the unused terminals. I have a situation in my house where the cable company is reading a about 50 volt charge back feeding one of the coax lines. The technician thinks it could be an open ground. Any suggextions would be appreciated.
Thanks! I would say remove that line and install a new one as a grounded homerun (no splices).
Thanks mr sparky after 30 years dealing with electricity and wires i still enjoying that trade never ending 👍👍👍👍
It's the best trade!
@@SparkyChannel i do plumbing and electricity i enjoy both trade very well i love keep waching when rough-in is done is a pride feeling 👍👍👍
@@TeslaBoy123 Excellent!
13:05 I never seen two outlets installed side by side on an open wall.
With an obviously installation defect.
I found an open ground on an outlet probably installed around 79, a fireplace sperates twin sockets on that wall.
The ground wire is present and connected
So where did it get disconnected, I guess I'll start pulling out sockets closest to and work my way out.
Then again all grounds report back to the panel so I'll probably have to pull all the grounds to find which outlet it's wired in parallel to
The outlets in video are likely placed as they are in order to facilitate an example. Same outlets are used in other videos to demonstrate examples of a different problem.
Thanks for the video. My people in Vietnam would just said this box near other box so they must be continuity, no check whatsoever.
But you, you take a step further and double check it, I really like that. It's really profesional to not assume anything and always testing before handling.
Also I have a question, should the ground wire be naked or insulated?
Well sir i dont speak english very well, but your explanation was so easy to understand. Regards from Oaxaca.
Regards from San Diego!
first time I ever saw that cool little gadget for continuity testing. I like that a lot!
FWIW. There is no Neutral wire in either box. It is a grounded conductor, according to the code book.
All the rest is educational and helpful. Thank you for showing the value of checking everything for correct connections and voltage. Also for using a voltage detector repeatedly. These little tools are priceless.
Also. Many choose to use a crimp sleeve or a green wire nut. The crimp sleeve is a much more definite connection, and takes up much less space.
Thanks!
Is this a quality channel dedicated to teaching?
Subbed.
Yes sir, welcome to Sparky Channel!
Love your videos. You are the Bob Ross of electrical work.
Wow, thanks! that's a huge compliment!
Do u connect the green one to the metal box and the green wires together then black to black then white to white
I have a Southwire 40010S-A receptacle tester. It has one red light and two orange lights. It also has a diagram that shows what the lights read and if there's a wiring problem. All the outlets I have re-installed and tested show to be correct wiring.
Thanks for your educational video.
How come you don’t wire the incoming cable at the top pare of terminals and outgoing cable on to the bottom terminal set , just like GFCI receptacle’s line and load ?
do you have to re-wire it or can you just ground straight from the box to the receptacle?
I have an open ground in a few outlets that have the ground wire connected to the receptacle, where would the problem be?
Good question . I'm having same problem , cannot find answer .
check upstream until you find a grounded outlet. I have seen where someone replaced the metal box with a plastic one and connected the ground to the plastic box. If all of the outlets are not showing ground, check the external connection to the grounding rod.
Question: my buddy of mine house is wired in the back in 60’s and has two prong receptacles in a room and needs to be changed to three prog receptacles. To help out, I would install GFCI in the home run box and identify the home run and wire that to the Line side and the other wires to the load side. Then change out the rest of the receptacles with GFCI and wire them on line side? Since no ground, if I install a ground pigtail, would that fix the “open ground”?
Think he has a video specifically on this. Think he just installed gfci on the first box from the breaker then 3 prong outlets after that with proper labeling. They still show up as open ground but are IAW code.
You fix the open ground with the text: "No equipment ground." It tells the tester (a person) to expect open ground. If you want to ground it you need to run a separate ground wire or preferably rewire completely with three wires.
Great video! I like the way you explain each step and the why.
Thanks so much!
Grandpa was a sparky and I inherited his tools. I now own two of these and ive never known this. I appreciate you sharing this info. Wish id have learned more and channels like this have been helpful.
Grandpa sounds like a really good man! Best wishes!
You could take the classes and become a certified electrician. It provides a great income.
@@normferguson2769 im actually looking into classes. I dont need the profession due to already being a diesel mechanic, but id like to know some of the things he did. I can afford the classes so I'm gonna enroll this year when enrollment is up.
Why are all the receptacles in my home (built 1993) have the neutral white wires switched, that is, the terminals on top have a black wire from one cable and the white wire from the other cable, same on bottom terminals? I guess it's ok since the receptacle tester says so and they do work. But when I changed one to an AFCI receptacle, and wired it the same way, it didn't work. I had to switch the white wires so they were across from the black wires of the same cable? I hope that's clear!
Can you do a video about finding and repairing electrical shorts? I have a light switch that is tripping the breaker when it is turned on. Thanks.
I'll see what I can do. Thanks!
Did you check in the switch and in the light fixture. 99% of the time shorts are at the termination points of the wires, so it would probably be at either of those points.
At least that has been my experience
What do you do with plastic boxes?
he is basically saying run it again with three wire. Thats really the best solution, albeit often impractical. GFCI is probably your next best bet if a legit ground isnt practically reached, but thats just my opinion
Thanks, just discovered some open ground faults. Now I know where to begin.
Just attach black and white together and check for continuity using multimeter on the other side, why the gizmo? Something I am missing?
Your tutorial is helpful thank you very much I will check my outlets, my house is from 50’s
Thanks, was able to identify and correct a loose ground on my island and get everything back to normal. Appreciate it.
Good job Russell!
Hey Bill, when you say the “neutral goes back to the power source”, I understand it goes back to the panel. Does it go anywhere else beyond that?
To the transformer on the street...and depending on the system, it is going back to the generator in the power plant with points in between where it is grounded. The neutral is a grounded conductor, a so called "operational ground". That what you simply call "ground" is the "protective ground". That's the reason the NEC calls the neutral also "grounded conductor".
Marcel Germann Thanks Marcel that helped
Great answer Marcel!
I was installing outlets in an addition built onto my house years ago. Had a friend over who was a licensed electrician, he was just kinda supervising me on the little stuff. I had finished connecting the wires on one of the outlets and was folding the wires back into the box, when he snuck up behind me and clapped really loud. He had to go find a really big scraper to peel me off the ceiling that day...
LOL! It sounds like you were concentrating! :)
Great video! I loved the detail. I will definitely pick up those wireless tools. Much better than hollering to my wife “Is the light off?” I think she will be very happy to no longer be involved in that process!
LOL! Yes, that does sound like a good idea. :)
what happens when there is no ground ito be found in othere receptacle
Excellent video. Please, I hope you can help. How to I find the first receptacle on the circuit? I'm trying to install a afci/gfci and control all the outlets downstream.
I figured this out. Thanks.
Thanks again sparky for another informative video.
You bet!
Another way to check continuity is by shorting the black and white conductors in the upgraded box and ohming out the black and white in the old groundless box.
this is also a handy trick to de-energize the branch without walking to the panel
(I am not an electrician) does anybody actually do this in the field? seems like a great time saver
edit: also good to map out all unmarked breakers
I think contractor in the 50's and earlier were a-holes. They made everything so complicated.
Electricians didn't color code the wires and used stiff wires that are hard to bend and cut. Hell! even Ben Franklin knew about grounding.
Carpenters made walls out of sheetrock and plaster instead of wood or drywall
Plumbers welded everything
and they all used flat head screws instead of Philips head screws.
now-a-days its the complete opposite. They even have helpful youtube video's.
So my house is from the 50s and all my outlets read open ground. Does that mean I have to rewire the entire house? Or can I ground each one to the metal box if available? Will that actually do anything or is the box too small to act as a ground and will it heat up and possibly cause a fire if a surge occurs?
If the box is not grounded, and you wire a ground towards it, it won't doo anything. And like you said, if there is a surge it can possibly cause a fire which I heard stories about.
Apparently a workaround is too install a GFCI outlet since it finds faults without using a ground wire, or just use a 2 prong outlet.
Or, the last step which will cost a bit more is just too rewire the entire house like you mentioned before. Hope this helps, cheers. :)
Install GFCI outlets (do your research). Or spend the big bucks and re-wire the home.
This might be ridiculously obvious, but are the outlets all 2-prong? That is: do they lack the third prong seen on modern outlets?
Haven't finished yet but just seen were its a two wire system. Instead of running a new wire because that's easier said than done you can also put it on a GFCI of GFCI breaker and it will pass code as well.
Doesn't help in side wall db
the hard part with that one is where they have connected other neutrals and then it turns into a headache.
Thanks for taking the time to pass on your knowledge
Thanks Scott!
I added a plug in a metal box with bx to a flex house. And I’m getting an open ground even with all the ground connections spliced through and ground screws used. The only place I didn’t use a ground screw was under the house in the crawl space I just wrapped the ground around the 8-32 that the metal blank plate goes on. Do you think that is the issue?
A ground screw is dedicated to grounding a ground wire. It is not to be located where it is used to secure something removable as you’ve described.
Let's say I have an old house with no proper grounding in the different outlets.
Can I pull a grounding cable and connect to one of the outlet box; then from that box, connect another ground cable to other outlet boxes?
The idea is to avoid to rewire the entire house.
For the first socket in each line run replace with a GFI. Make sure you put the "no equipment ground" sticker on the face plate. On the others in this circuit you can use a normal grounded type but you also need to sticker it the same plus add the "GFI protected." Both of these stickers will be included with the GFI. This is code but remember without the real ground modern electronics equipment will not be as protected as if the ground ran back to the panel. Since you speak of it being an older home suggest you start by buying a slim-line GFI because the box might be too small or tight for the normal size.
Yes but the ground wires must be in conduit or sheathing and all the other codes have to be followed.
A question for help. My issue in a 10 year old residency system. My problem started with an open ground checked power bottom of receptacle was fine recheck upper and no open ground My problem is the trouble is shifting to different outlets then other rooms. Any help ?
Love the video. Felt like I was in an online class.
Awesome! Thank you!
Very helpful.
That wireless continuity tester insane. Life saving for testing.
Yes sir!
At 3:00, just because the tester says that there is ground, that doesn't mean that ground was set up properly. Some idiot would just decide to connect ground directly to neutral within its own outlet, so be careful about that assumption.
True.
If you don’t want to replace the wire you can replace it to a Gfci outlet which has the same safety not requiring ground
Thank you for this. most scenarios won't have people breaking open the walls to replace the wire inside the walls. The GFCI is ideal. Heres my question though, if you installed a new 14/2 on the GFCI but the electric panel doest have ground, where would the ground on that 14/2 go? Just wrap it up and put it to the side?
@@ShyRage1 just attach it from the breaker panel to the neutral bus bar! As normally every grounded breaker is bonded with neutral
@@VOLTRONDEFENDER4440 I thought this could only be done at the main panel and not sub panels. Mine in question is a sub panel.
@@ShyRage1 yea it can only be done to the main panel where all the breakers at the main breaker might not be at that panel
@@VOLTRONDEFENDER4440 Here's my scenerio. At the meter, there are two hot wires (black) and one neutral (white). The white is connected to a ground in the meter box. Those 3 wires go into the main panel from the meter panel. The two black wires are attached the the main breaker in the main panel. The white is connected to a bus bar. The Bus bar is joined with a crossing to the bus bar on the left side of the box. On the right bus bar where the white wire is connected, there is a long thick white wire that goes through the main panel and into the subpanel inside of the home. That wire is connected (white wire that is grounded at the meter box) on the neutral side. Is this supposed to be this way? Since the neutral is grounded, can the neutral be used as a ground in the sub-panel? Why or why not?
Great video. I am in a new house and our hall lights stopped turning on. My Husband rested and found an outlet in the same area is an open ground 🤦🏽♀️. Do you think this method here will help get the power back on for the lights? Thx in advance.
I wouldn’t worry yet about the open ground in the receptacle close by, stuck with the hall fixture and switch first.
Familiarize yourself with the basics of any multi-meter. Start at the switch and determine if you have 120v going to the bottom post of your light switch.
Let us know from there 👍
No get a better husband
if the neutral is grounded at the panel, why does the outlet test as open ground (presumably unsafe/less than optimal)?
Neutral & ground have different purposes. Neutral is provided as a return path for the load current. Ground is provided so that touch surfaces stay at zero potential. Neutral normally carries current while ground does not. If local neutral rises above ground potential because of excessive current or poor connectivity (high resisatance), ground will not be affected and still provide zero potential at the connected touch surfaces (appliance chassis, electronic equipment cases, etc.).
Excellent video, thanks for the lesson. Are you sure you're not Scotty Kilmer?
My thoughts exactly
Best comment here LOL
Who wired that outlet by plugging the wires into the back of the outlets instead of using the terminal screws?
you can use the stab ins or terminal screws but using the terminal screws instead make for a better connection
@@zacharybarnett5609 but usually if you use the stab ins, there usually a one time use because you have too press the tabs to get the wires out which can deform/damage the tabs on the inside making the connection a lot weaker.
Great video ! And right to thw very important point ! No wasting time showing uncrewing or screwing things and showing face ! Like other videos ! Thank you so much!
Thanks! When I watch UA-cam videos I want people to get to the point as well. LOL!
Hi Sparky. Very informative video. Maybe you can help me with this. I bought some surge protectors from amazon and they all have lights for protected and ground. However when I plug them into the wall outlets at home some of the surge protectors show not grounded/protected but when I plug in a different surge protector it shows grounded/protected. I bought the surge protectors at the same time from Amazon a week ago. Also, I checked the outlets with a receptacle tester and I get the two lights for correct wiring. I went around the house and plugged the surge protectors/receptacle tester into various outlets with the same results. Is it a surge protector problem or something with the house wiring? thanks!
Interesting. Perhaps some aren't working correctly?
Great vid. Next time just leave 12 inches of bare copper in the box with no ground and then do this: wrap the bare copper around the metal box bonding screw, then continue to the green terminal of the receptacle. That way u eliminate the extra wago, no pig tail needed, and the ground 100% continuous. Solid grounds with the least number of breaks are greatly preferable. Woohoo
That's an excellent method. Thanks Dave!
12 inches is excessive (that's what she said)
I have a question: So at my grandparents house I used to have a 2 prong receptacle and could not hold in a plug, then later was replaced with a 3 prong with 2 USB ports and has a no equipment ground sticker. Would this be fine or should it be changed?
There's also no SLACK on the wire.
If it is GFCI protected then it is fine, but if it is not GFCI protected and then you should install a GFCI outlet on the first outlet in the circuit which is usually located closest to the breaker panel but it can sometimes be kind of tricky to locate or you could install a GFCI Circuit breaker assuming they have a circuit breaker panel not a fuse box
@@TechHowden there is no GFCI in the circuit last I checked but there was 2 wires and I assume one goes to another outlet and the other wires are the live wires
@@YourAverageMODude145 if you want to make it code compliant you have to install GFCI circuit breaker
@@TechHowden ok
Hi, I followed your instructions to fix 5 open ground outlets in my house. They are all 3 prong outlets and have a ground wire, but somehow the ground wire wasn't connected. I connected the ground wire and 3 of them worked great, but the last 2 outlets still show up as open ground. I also noticed that those 2 outlets share the same circuit breaker. Any idea what seems to be the culprit? Thanks!
Perhaps there’s a box where the grounds were not connected on the cable the exits the box and feeds one of your open ground outlets. You should just open every outlet on that circuit and double check everything.
Do you have a video..have to load lines coming into outlet..ground on each one...cut too short..how to tie these grounds in plz send thx
See: How to Extend Short Wires per 2023 NEC 300.14: ua-cam.com/video/4PN-sTyhXTo/v-deo.html
What if there's no ground wife in all outlets?
then your house is fucked
Gfci
Run a new line
Run new wires through the whole thing, or install GFI. Could do one at every outlet, could do 1 at the first outlet and protect everything down stream, or you can just replace the whole circuit breaker with a GFI breaker.
Install a GFCI and connect it to all the outlets connecting to it
Great video. Gave me confidence to tackle and otherwise intimidating task. Thank you
You can do it!
I have the same open ground issue but the biggest problem with it is that I have a ground attached to the receptical and when I check for voltage with my tester I touch the hot wire there's current, I touch the neutral there's no current, but when I touch the ground there's current going to it. I plug in my outlet tester and it says I have an open ground. And when I go to trip the GFCI (it's connected to a GCFI circuit) I press the test button on my outlet tester and then it says reversed ground/hot until I let it go. Any reason why my ground is getting power to it?
Me too. You come up with any solutions??
I also have the same issue
Turns out I had a loose ground somewhere in the circuit and I had to open everything up in order to fix it
same issue here. seems common?
In a circuit with lights and outlets, if a ground was disconnected/broken at some point, would everything downstream have an open ground even if the ground wires for those outlets and lights downstream of the issue were properly connected? Thanks!
of course, because the ground wire travels back to the panel and into the 'ground' if the ground wire is broken it isn't grounded
@@claytonjames4779 I was able to find the location of the broken ground. An improperly installed ceiling fan. I can only describe the installation as “ground adjacent” ;) All fixed now.
Clayton, will an outlet with an open ground still trip the circuit breaker if there is a short?
Really appreciate the tec info…but I have a question. My garage outlet circuit indicates that I do have an open ground when I connect it to my travel trailer. I also find that I get a slight “zap” when I neal on the grass and touch the metal frame. My question is…is there more going on than just an “open ground”?
You are the ground
Obviously…but “why-for”? But seriously, I did discover the source…but I’m interested in what YOU think It was…
@@wayneg5593 wat did u discover
@@javierperez4039 vbbb
@@javierperez4039 broken safety ground wire in extension cord
A Ground wire does not give protection from lighting or power surges. It only provides a low impedance path back to the source for faults. Grounding electrode conductors (GEC) do protect against lightning and surges, but those are two different components of the grounding and bonding system of the house.
What is mean by impedance (z)
We have an outlet where the bottom is OK but the top is showing open ground...any suggestions (am going to look into it tomorrow but any advice is welcome. I think I am going to replace the outlet) ?
Yes, replace the receptacle.
Thanks for the help, I have a 1942 house that I have to do grounding on in the basement. Grandpa was a navy welder and had to do a lot of electrical, he was pretty clear with the dangers of electricity.
Excellent. Thanks Ben!
The most important reason for the ground is to prevent getting electrocuted by a faulty appliance. If a cable insulation inside of the appliance fails and live parts would touch the metal housing, on an ungrounded outlet the voltage would "sit and wait" for a victim to touch it. In case of a grounded housing there would be a short-circuit, tripping the circuit breaker (or blowing the fuse) almost immediatly. No chance of a person getting an electric shock. That was the reason for introducing this safety mechanism.
This protective measurement was first mentioned in Germany in 1924 as a possibility, in 1932 this became mandatory in the VDE 0140 (protective measures against electric shock) which is still existent but it was modernised over the years like all regulations.
Yes, that has happened to me. I get it all wired up and then realize that I forgot the cap. LOL! The ferrules are a good idea. Also tinning the copper strands would be excellent.
@@SparkyChannel Tinning is not a good solution. There's a reason this practice is banned here since 1979. The problem is, the solder will start deform under the pressure of the screw, creating a loose connection which is also a potential fire hazard. I've seen such connections, and the wire directly fell out of the terminal just simply by gravity. It also corrodes, causing a contact resistance. If you completely solder such a connection this is not a problem, because the corrosion is only on the surface of the solder. But in this case this would be a problem.
This happened several times to me that I forgot the cap. Sometimes it's not a problem when the other end of the cord isn't connected to anything yet, but sometimes....
Why ground wire isn’t shielded? 9:15
Ground wires are not insulated.
Nice video. I'm not, sure why the 2 shorter pigtails are shielded and why the other 2 grounds are not, but I imagine it's to better identify pigtails from the "running," permanent, ground conductor wire. If you are asking in general, why not shielded, I'm still learning myself, but one reason, ground wire are exposed because they "attract" "loose/wild/unplanned" electricity better than sheathed wires. This extra attraction is a safety measure, because it is a backup unsheathed wire that will conduct unplanned electricity, instead of unplanned electricity conducting to that screw driver you may be holding. Unsheilded wire will attract unplanned electricity and conduct it to the ground rod outside the house and then the rod conducts unplanned electricity to water underground and dissipates it over a larger surface area until electric field returns to some equilibrium. When working with a screw driver around outlets, this is why they are sometimes rubberized coating, any unsafe/unplanned current will shock and zap itself to most desirable/least resistance thing, in this case, unshielded copper wire. One thing occurred to me, why did he say Neutral coming "from" the power source around that same time in the video? I thought neutral always wants to and is "returned" back to the main panel/ the source. So if I'm right, Hot wires are least safe conductor, Neutrals are the next safety backup conductor because they give Hot wires a return path. Unsheiled ground wires are a safety backup conductor to this hot-to-neutral loop that is always trying to be in balance from 117-124 volts. There is like a field of power around any wire that has current, with fingers, hands, tools, appliances, phone charges, all these things working around or in or near receptacles, unshielded ground wire is the safe wire to conduct unplanned current. And maybe those pigtails are coated with rubber because if lighting strikes a roof and then flows to some nearest metal, lightning will want to first touch the main exposed ground wire instead of sheathed pigtal flowing to the receptacle.
I agree. It's best to have grounded circuits. I got scammed buying this house. All new Romex in and out of the circuit breaker panel box, but what was hidden, was it was tied into older wires that are 2 conductors and insulated with asbestos. Probably going to drill holes in my floor and run conduit to the existing receptacles in the wall, add an extension box, and just leave the old wiring dormant. Unless it just eats at me, then I am going to be taking down one side of certain walls and pulling new wire. I hate the idiot that wired this house. At least the J boxes and gang boxes are steel, but the idiot used nails instead of screws. And I can't figure out how he got them hammered so tight inside the box. Long nails too. I doubt it was a nail gun. Even so, those would not have fit inside the box either. So that's a nightmare. A saws all or reciprocating saw doesn't make it any easier. Just a little faster but a lot of sparks and metal dust.
I think that clown worked on my house too. Maybe my car as well.
It's sad that people really run new wiring without ground (ground is very important!)
What if the wall is not open?
or if its more than 3 inches apart :}
What if there is a box in between the two shown that is not apparent? Maybe in another room? Will continuity test work?
Thanks for introducing me to the wago lever nuts. They are easy to work with
Yes, they are!
My tester similar looking like you show, Sears product shows 1 green only in the center for Open ground. Why does your demo show 1 green also, but its an extreme left.?
its a different tester where the lights light up on it doesnt matter all that does is the key on the tester
Hey @Sparky Channel can you please make a video of the klein cl800 clamp meter?
I'm sorry but I don't own that one so I can't make a video about it.
is this also applicable for electric range (240 V) 3 phong receptacle for 1950's house?
how could I contact some other question?
6:49 you have proven continuity but not necessarily "1 box away" There could be a box in between these two that is pig-tailed that would give that same reading.
Yes, that's correct.
Awesome video! Thanks Sparky!
Thanks Jenny!
Is it normal to have continuity between the hot and neutral wires in a outlet when the breaker is switched off?
Fantastic educational video. Well spoken as well as great camera footage.
Fantastic work Sparky!! Thank you!
My pleasure, thanks!
first time I've seen Wegos with a release lever. How much are those running in comparison to the regular Wegos?
They're not cheap.. a 2 port will run about $0.23.. a 3-port around $0.40 and so forth.. they have 2, 3, 5 and 8 port models. Search sites like Amazon but really research because prices are all over the board. The "kits" tend to run high. If you use them a lot then get them in boxes of like 50 or so.. cheaper that way. I love them and use them constantly. Some situations not so much, like where you already have several wire twisted together.. you'd then have to cut them all to get a nice straight end for the Wago. I re-wire tons of fluorescent fixtures to ballast bypass LED fixtures and they are great for that. Also great for times when you may be connecting and disconnecting a lot. Makes it soooo easy.
@@bryanknudsen8100 yeah, Amazon isn't always the place to get the best deal anymore! Too many people buy and resale on there to try and make money from home, but Wegos are more reliable than wire nuts in my experience.
I still buy things from Amazon, but a person has to pick and choose with caution. Almost every review I've given on there in the last 12 months has been blocked, and most of them were good reviews, so you never know what you are getting. Some of the reviews I've seen in the past are user error problems, but everyone should be allowed to say what they want about the products they buy, and let people sift through the garbage!
I bought 3 sprinklers recently, and they claimed 33'. I didn't say anything about that, I simply said I made to hoses 19' to daisy chain them together, and they speed up the time it takes me to water my lawn. That's what they blocked. I'm really to the point that I don't want to attempt to give a review, and I think everyone should. Because they don't let people give an honest review. People would be better off looking at it and taking the chance, and return it if they don't like it.
If you are researching that type of product on Amazon, you may be looking in the wrong place. Because you may be getting an inferior knockoff of the product that isn't rated for the same amperes etc.
I replaced a switch with and switch/outlet combo. The switch previously didn’t have a ground wire. The light connected to the switch has a ground that is tied into the natural wiring in the circuit. When I turned the power back on the outlet in the switch test as grounded. How is this possible and is it actually safe?
Short answer...Its not
Thank you so much this is Superb viseo I appreciate your time it Help me a lot 01-19-2024 1:27am. ⌚
What if you add a ground wire and connect it to the metal box but the receptacle tester still showing open ground?
It is not grounded back to the main panel and then into the ground
What would your wiring configuration be if the outlet box was the blue PVC type?
It would be the same except the PVC box doesn't have to be bonded.
@@SparkyChannel So the (new) bare ground wire from the upstream receptacle could have connected directly to the new (downstream) receptacle?
Can you use a GFI for using a switched outlet and a hot bottom?
No, a GFCI is not a switch.
@Sparky Channel,
I believe Mr. Steffen wants to use half of a GFI outlet as a switched receptacle and the other half of the GFI outlet as a always hot receptacle. I know you have posted a video on how to wire an outlet just like that, but it doesn't mention if using a GFI outlet is acceptable.
No, you can't. GFCI terminals have different purposes. Two are marked LOAD, and the other two are marked LINE. LINE terminals are connected to power source, and LOAD terminals are connected to downstream outlets to extend GFCI protection if desired.
Why does my Fluke non-contact tester (as seen @ 1:56 ) show 'Hot' when inserted in the narrow slot of the outlet when the breaker is off and both a VOM and plug in outlet tester show a dead circuit?
Probably a faulty tester, which doesn't surprise me. I recently got a Southwire version to replace my long time Greenlee which worked perfectly. It gave false readings like yours is doing right out of the box.
@@Robnord1 Thanks for the reply, I suppose it's better showing false positive than negative, guess I'll stick with my VOM and outlet tester.
@@ICSpotz They also do weird things when the battery is weak
@@geecrawdad Thanks, it was new just out the box so I assumed the batteries were good but I'll check them and see if that helps.
@@ICSpotz I don't trust them anyway. Just a little more confirmation that the power is off. My panel is in the garage so I'll even close the garage door lest some nefarious neighbor creeps in and switches the breaker back on.
thx for posting!
I have a technical question:
I live in a new house and I am a guitar player with high end guitar tube amps.The problem I have is that regularly, there will be a horrendous buzz in the amp.This problem is intermittent.
I fully understand the 60 cycle hum coming from single coil pickups on a Fender but this noise is intermittent.The sound appears even when I am on hum cancelling positions on the guitar.
My ground wire is connected to the water pipe.I thought maybe the problem is there.Should I drill a hole and directly go in the Earth instead of the water inlet pipe?Any opinions on this?
I even though of calling the Hydro-Quebec on this matter.I live in Canada.It can be quiet for many days and it suddenly comes back for 4-5 days and then goes away..I am in the middle of it right now.
thx and have a good life!
Robert, I suspect you're getting noise from another circuit. (I'm guessing). Would it be possible to run a dedicated circuit to where you plug in your instruments? This new circuit would need to be grounded at your main panel. This would eliminate a lot of electrical possibilities that may be causing the problem.
You don't have ground rods or a direct to earth ground? A cold water bond only might be the reason, but you should properly pound in some ground rods for the hell of it.
I have both ran sound systems and installed sound systems. If doing a new install and in a revamping of a system when possible (95+%) we would install isolated circuits for the sound system.
That is a 2 stage process. 1 the circuit(s) used must be separated (isolated) from the rest of the ground system. An isolated grounding system must be installed for this circuit(s) usually a grounding rod is used that is separated by distance (your local code should provide a min distance). Use as great a distance as is possible but must meet code requirements. (Sorry, I have no clue as to what Canada uses for their electrical code).
Like your random hum comes from something in your electrical system that is not always in use when playing. My experience is lights are one of the biggest noise causes. But any electric item can be the source. Since your house electrical system is largely interconnected via the grounding wire and neutral wire, it could be from most anything. This is from a hair dryer being used in a bathroom or bedroom from the other end of the house to the garbage disposal in your kitchen to an outside outlet or light.
@@SparkyChannel hey Bill. The dedicated circuit is a thought but from a sound tech and sound installer perspective, I would suggest and ISOLATED ground in addition to a dedicated circuit. The issue with panel connected ground and neutral is the noise can be transmitted across these. Isolating the ground is doable (not necessarily easy) where as to dedicate a neutral requires a dedicated panel unless you know a trick I do not.
What are those hub clip thingys, waggo nuts?
Yes, check it out: Wago (100) 221-412 (50) 221-413 (25) 221-415 Lever-Nut Assortment Pack: Amazon: amzn.to/2WxqHxC
Excellent thanks
Is the grounding pig tail really necessary when you're grounding the receptacle with the ground wire coming into the box?
I guess you want to ground the box as well
I have an entire circuit that has open ground on all the receptacles and also when I test the light switch for continuity of the neutral and ground there is no continuity. Also the voltage test shows no path back to ground. Only path back on the neutral.
What could be the problem?
Perhaps the circuit isn’t properly grounded at the service panel???
1. an open ground in one outlet can show for the whole circuit itself.
2. the switch is on a separate circuit.
3. theres no voltage in ground wire
maybe one or more outlet is/are wire incorrectly, having the return wire on inline position, for continuity on neutral and ground, you should take the far away outlet and add the ground wire to neutral on the outlet, the incoming ground cable add it to the box itself, maybe this work for you. ps. make sure you have correct ground at main braker.
And if there's no ground wire from the panel?
Can you by pass the original house's ground with a separate ground going into another copper grounding rod?
Logically, yes.
Legally, maybe/maybe not.
You can, however, run a separate ground wire from any other close-by outlet as long as they are both fed power from the same mains panel. This solution is probably much easier than installing another grounding rod, anyway. ;-]
Very nice tutorial... nice job!
Thank you! Cheers!
Buying a home and one thing we say on the inspection was. Open ground or weak ground in a lot of the rooms is that safe and a easy fix ???
It might be. It's hard to tell from here.
Can you just add a ground wire by adding a green screw to the second box?
No. by adding a green wire that is attached to the metal outlet box and the green screw (or grounding lug) on the outlet, you are simply making the ground potential of the two "even" .
Neither the metal outlet box or the outlet itself are grounded or connected to the circuit in any way until a physical wire runs from the main panel to the first outlet box and then to the second one.
Simply adding a green wire and even sticking it through the wall and then into the dirt outside wouldn't work either. The term ground means more than just something touching dirt somewhere, Lol
Can I replace a receptacle that has no ground to a GFCI
yes, that is the safe way. be sure to put the sticker "no equipment ground" that is included with the GFCI outlet.
Well if is ground short the breaker will trip, therefore you cannot check it ,I don't understand how you are able to curry out the test with the power braker off
Great video; accurate clearly presented information.