What To Do If Your Home Electrical Circuits Are Not Grounded
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How to Upgrade an Older Home to Have Grounded Electric Circuits: The Importance of Grounding Electrical Outlet Circuits, How to Ground an Electric Outlet Circuit. © By: Dave Rongey |
Grounding Electrical Circuits for an Older Home
Electrical Question: I just bought a house built in 1945. The main panel is grounded, but the sub panel is not.
- The previous owners converted all the outlets from 2 prong to 3 prong.
- My house inspector recommended that I have the sub panel’s feeder cable replaced from a 2 wire to a 3 wire cable.
- The electrician I had come out suggested that I leave the two wire as is and just do a dedicated circuit in my kitchen and 1 in my living room.
- He also said to just change the outlets back to 2 prong ones.
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Electronic Equipment that Should be Grounded
- My concern is that I will have PC’s, game systems, and there is an HDTV in every bedroom.
- These all require a 3 prong outlets.
- Should I have him put dedicated circuits in all the rooms, or just install GFCI outlets?
- I don’t want to overload my circuits or damage my electronics.
This home electrical wiring question came from: Sherri, a Homeowner from Topeka, Kansas.
Additional Comments: Great site. It’s been really helpful with my older house.
Dave’s Reply:
Thanks for your electric wiring question Sherri.
Upgrading an Older Home with Grounded Circuits
- Skill Level: Advanced – Licensed Electrical Contractor, Not Recommended for Homeowners.
- Tools Required: Electricians Pouch of Hand Tools.
- Estimated Time: Depends on the extent of the project, the grounding method to be used and available access to the project area.
- Precaution: If the only ground source for the electrical system will be removed or modified then the electrical service should be shut off until the new ground source can be reconnected.
- Notice: Making changes to the Electrical Service Panel should be done with a permit and be inspected.
How to Ground an Electric Outlet Circuit
How to Upgrade an Older Home to have Grounded Electric Circuits
- The recommendation from the home inspector is correct, however it may not be required or economically practical for you at this time.
- It would be good to have a 3-wire grounded cable installed when possible, however this will only provide a ground to the sub-panel.
- You may consider having the ungrounded circuits that are being supplied by the sub-panel upgraded once the sub-panel has been properly grounded.
- The electricians recommendation to install grounded receptacles is in my option the best thing to do, especially when you will be connecting computers, game systems and big screen HDTV equipment, which all require a grounded receptacle outlet.
- Installing a GFCI receptacle will NOT provide a ground, it will only provide GFCI protection in areas where the user may come into contact with grounded surfaces.
- It is essential that if a 3-wire or grounded receptacle does not have a connection to a ground wire then the receptacle outlet should be changed to a 2-wire or non-grounded receptacle outlet.
More about Grounding Electrical Circuits
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Electrical Grounding Methods and Requirements
- Listing of electrical codes for grounding with examples of electrical grounding codes for home electrical wiring.
Electrical Outlet Wiring
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Wiring Electrical Outlets for the Home
- Home electrical wiring includes 110 volt outlets and 220 volt outlets and receptacles which are common place in every home. See how wiring electrical outlets for the home are done.
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