Electrical outlet wrapped in electrical tape

[y_p_w]

you should look for any bootleg grounds. they will show up a good on a plug in tester. ungrounded outlets seem to be common up to the late 60's .

i have seen many house for sale that have bootleg grounds. this tricks the inspectors tester .

That’s typically where the neutral wire is hooked up to the ground terminal? This house is almost all 2-prong outlets, but I haven’t tested any of the few 3-prong outlets. It already has GFCI outlets in the kitchen and bathrooms, but I suppose I can physically inspect those to see if they’re grounded, plus check with a ground tester.

 

[Urshurak776]

Metal box, I wrap them. Always have, right or wrong.

Been doing that for over 30 years. Nothing has burned down yet (as far as I know......)

 

[SHOZ]

I've seen it as well, not just GFIs. There are some things out there that aren't code but some in the trade think are best practice. I have an electrician friend that insists receptacles should be mounted neutral or ground up in the event something metal falls down and gets wedged between a plug and the receptacle. I tell him he's nuts and it sets him off.

I have actually seen this happen with my own outlets in the garage. Ground down will make the cord sagging down easier.

 

[SHOZ]

I use to do it at work because we seldom killed the power when opening a box to troubleshoot. And always with metal boxes it's a must IMHO.

 

[CarLuver]

yep neutral and ground connected together at the receptacle . its expensive and costly many times to pull a ground wire in a house unless the walls are open.

i did some trouble shooting for a rental a freind bought . a 1.5 mil rental built in the early 60's . found bootleg grounds on all the receptacles. inspector passed the house. he was very pissed

 

[thastinger]

Same here - I have seen some electricians wrap tape around the receptacle. Electrician installed GFCI in our old bathroom without a ground wire - I was surprised that they work without a ground wire. Go figure.

If it is Romex metal cable and a metal box, the metal outer shell is grounded at the main panel and IS the ground wire.

 

[y_p_w]

yep neutral and ground connected together at the receptacle . its expensive and costly many times to pull a ground wire in a house unless the walls are open.

i did some trouble shooting for a rental a freind bought . a 1.5 mil rental built in the early 60's . found bootleg grounds on all the receptacles. inspector passed the house. he was very pissed

Yeah - looking at my parents place and using a ground tester, most of the original portion of their house is not grounded. I think it might be useful to install GFCI outlets. The parts of their house that I found have grounded outlets are either additions or remodels, like the bathrooms. The kitchen is on the other side of the wall with their addition, so that was easy enough to re-do. However, tearing away at drywall would seem to be very expensive just to achieve grounded outlets.

I'm still trying to figure out how the bathroom outlets were grounded. I remember years ago I saw my uncle install a surge protector in an old home with mostly ungrounded outlets. He installed a 3-prong outlet but then took a wire to the center screw and drilled a hole in the wall to route the wire to a metal stake planted in the ground outside.

I saw the remodel being done at my parents' place before the drywall was added. Even saw an electrician drill holes in 2"x4" to route 3-wire Romex. But of course that was done before the insulation was added and the drywall put in place.

 

[Hillbilly Deluxe]

Used to be standard practice when good tradesmen did residential work.

 

[nomas]

If it is Romex metal cable and a metal box, the metal outer shell is grounded at the main panel and IS the ground wire.

Romex is the brand name of a non metalic (Type NM ) sheathed cable . Type BX is metal armored .

 

[ragtoplvr]

Dad wrapped with tape every single receptacle and switch he installed his entire 40+ year career. He never used back stab contacts either, side screws only.

Rod

 

[y_p_w]

Dad wrapped with tape every single receptacle and switch he installed his entire 40+ year career. He never used back stab contacts either, side screws only.

Rod

I’ve seen pressure plate clamps, which would seem to be as reliable as a pigtail around a screw.

 

[y_p_w]

So I had a look at one room in my parents’ house that I knew was properly grounded at the circuit breaker. This is the room I saw the electrician wire back in 1995 using mostly Leviton Decora outlets and wallplates. I vaguely recalled that he inserted into the backstabs, so I was concerned they might be loose. I ended up redoing whatever used the backstabs and connecting with pigtails to the screws. And every one used clearly looked like it was “loose” providing less pressure. The receptacles had two pairs of backstab holes, where I suppose the could be independent by breaking the bridge (I’ve seen that with switched outlets). The unused ones were mostly covered by the metal, while the used ones were less than half covering the hole.

I think this room is also completely wired in parallel. There’s a single spec grade GFCI outlet with unused load terminals. However, that has no backstab, but does have insertion holes, but where the screw clamps down on a pressure plate holding down the wire in the hole.

But every box has wire nuts hooking up one strip of Romex to another, along with a short length of wire to the receptacle. And each receptacle ground is hooked to a green jacketed wire that’s connected to the bare copper ground with a wire nut.

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

I've seen it as well, not just GFIs. There are some things out there that aren't code but some in the trade think are best practice. I have an electrician friend that insists receptacles should be mounted neutral or ground up in the event something metal falls down and gets wedged between a plug and the receptacle. I tell him he's nuts and it sets him off.

That's a never ending debate about the direction of the outlet.

 

[alarmguy]

Many homes are without a ground wire from the 1950's and before. GFCI is a perfect fix for those concerned, Actually better fix. After all, how many times do you actually plug a cord in your house that has a ground terminal on the plug? Like ZERO
A GFCI will protect you with all those 2 prong plugs you plug in everyday that only have a common and power.

Heck, you dont even have to change the outlets if you dont want too. Though it is possibly less expensive.
You can change the breakers to GFCI our new home has GFCI in all wet locations and ARC breakers in the bedrooms.

 

[y_p_w]

Many homes are without a ground wire from the 1950's and before. GFCI is a perfect fix for those concerned, Actually better fix. After all, how many times do you actually plug a cord in your house that has a ground terminal on the plug? Like ZERO
A GFCI will protect you with all those 2 prong plugs you plug in everyday that only have a common and power.

Heck, you dont even have to change the outlets if you dont want too. Though it is possibly less expensive.
You can change the breakers to GFCI our new home has GFCI in all wet locations and ARC breakers in the bedrooms.

A lot of stuff uses grounded plugs. Stuff like toaster ovens, garage door openers, and anything hooked up with an IEC cable. I can’t find many ungrounded power strips.

 

[alarmguy]

A lot of stuff uses grounded plugs. Stuff like toaster ovens, garage door openers, and anything hooked up with an IEC cable. I can’t find many ungrounded power strips.

Really? Yes I just checked, you are correct some kitchen appliances and heavy motors such as your garage door, washer etc. But a GFCI will cover it should a short occur. GFCIs are in all wet locations and do not need a ground to prevent electrocution. Actually I rather have a GFCI than a grounded outlet with no GFCI IF and only IF I had to choose.

 

[y_p_w]

Really? Yes I just checked, you are correct some kitchen appliances and heavy motors such as your garage door, washer etc. But a GFCI will cover it should a short occur. GFCIs are in all wet locations and do not need a ground to prevent electrocution. Actually I rather have a GFCI than a grounded outlet with no GFCI IF and only IF I had to choose.

A lot of new construction these days requires GFCI circuit breakers. I used to live in a townhouse built in the late 70s, and that had one 20A GFCI breaker that fed all of the bathrooms. I think these days there's a requirement for a lot more GFCI breakers and those can be really pricey.

 

[alarmguy]

A lot of new construction these days requires GFCI circuit breakers. I used to live in a townhouse built in the late 70s, and that had one 20A GFCI breaker that fed all of the bathrooms. I think these days there's a requirement for a lot more GFCI breakers and those can be really pricey.

Our new construction 2023, all wet locations are protected by a GFCI outlet of course on the same circuit, additional outlets are tied into that GFCI.

What I saw for the first time in this new home is all bedrooms are required to have ARC breakers.

As we know, individual states have their own variation of the national electrical code, Not an electrician. I have done a lot of wiring in my lifetime according to code, including a whole house that was inspected by the county or town at the time. It was a while ago, more years that I cared to admit.

 

[y_p_w]

Our new construction 2023, all wet locations are protected by a GFCI outlet of course on the same circuit, additional outlets are tied into that GFCI.

What I saw for the first time in this new home is all bedrooms are required to have ARC breakers.

As we know, individual states have their own variation of the national electrical code, Not an electrician. I have done a lot of wiring in my lifetime according to code, including a whole house that was inspected by the county or town at the time. It was a while ago, more years that I cared to admit.

The first time I'd installed a GFCI outlet, it was for a home aquarium setup. I would sometimes maintain the water while various things were still operating, including a tube heater and a filter. Those are supposed to be sealed, but if the seal broke while I was working, I'd rather have the GFCI protection. I'd even read some message board on aquariums, where one guy seemed more concerned that they might accidentally trip and stop the pump/heater/filter and affect the fish, rather than how he could conceivably be electrocuted if the heater was compromised. Those things have a direct AC cable going right into the water. If there's just a break in the cable, that could make for a very bad day.

 

[alarmguy]

The first time I'd installed a GFCI outlet, it was for a home aquarium setup. I would sometimes maintain the water while various things were still operating, including a tube heater and a filter. Those are supposed to be sealed, but if the seal broke while I was working, I'd rather have the GFCI protection. I'd even read some message board on aquariums, where one guy seemed more concerned that they might accidentally trip and stop the pump/heater/filter and affect the fish, rather than how he could conceivably be electrocuted if the heater was compromised. Those things have a direct AC cable going right into the water. If there's just a break in the cable, that could make for a very bad day.

Yes, I thought of many times putting a GFCI on my fish tank. I have kept marine and freshwater fish for about five decades now.

Complacency and I never installed one, but what you say is 100% correct, nowadays it’s still that darn heater. Though you still have epoxy encapsulated powerheads, and also in my current case, hang on back filter.
Lighting is no more a concern as it works on low-voltage LEDs

I have thought of many times installing a GFCI power strip, I heard sometimes they malfunction if the power goes on and off.
I think it’s time to rethink this, it’s insane not to have a GFCI on a tank.
My current tank is a 55 gallon freshwater. When we downsized our house last year, I gave up my 75 gallon reef tank and went back to freshwater because I didn’t want to bother mixing salt anymore. Kept a marine reef type tank since around 1989 and I’m kind of enjoying being back to freshwater and a planted tank.

As I get older (not old haha ) salt was not an option in the new house. I didn’t want the mess, plus mixing and hauling buckets of saltwater, the entire house is wood laminate flooring.
With the freshwater tank, I use a python type device to change the water.