I am trying to plug a Belkin surge protecter to a wall unit in the living room. There are 2 Led (Red & Geen). Red--> signaling power & Green --> signaling htat the outlet/surge protector is properly grounded. I only get the Red light. Upon further investigation (removing the outlet); I noticed that there are only 2 wires thus leaving no room for grounds. Can I drill a hole on the electrical box and screw in a wire to the outlet ground screw??will this work?? Or is there a better way to do a ground if I only have 2 wires?? Thank you all...
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Dan-
Connecting a jumper from the ground lug on your outlet to the metal outlet box won't likely give you a ground. You most likely have an ungrounded system. You can tell quickly with a multi-meter set on AC Volts by touching one probe to the hot wire on the outlet, and the other probe to the metal outlet box. If it doesn't register voltage, your box is not grounded (your circuit must be hot of course to test this).
Connecting a jumper from the ground lug on your outlet to the metal outlet box won't likely give you a ground. You most likely have an ungrounded system. You can tell quickly with a multi-meter set on AC Volts by touching one probe to the hot wire on the outlet, and the other probe to the metal outlet box. If it doesn't register voltage, your box is not grounded (your circuit must be hot of course to test this).
Your only real option at this point would be to re-feed that outlet from a grounded main or sub-panel with sheathed electrical cable that has a ground wire.
quote:
JiminCal Wrote
SNIPYour only real option at this point would be to re-feed that outlet from a grounded main or sub-panel with sheathed electrical cable that has a ground wire.
Do you believe that? Were you just trying to simplify the answer and went too far? There is one more alternative in the OPs situation that you did not mention. It is covered in section 250.130 viz.
250.130 Equipment Grounding Conductor Connections.
Equipment grounding conductor connections at the source of separately derived systems shall be made in accordance with 250.30(A)(1). Equipment grounding conductor connections at service equipment shall be made as indicated in 250.130(A) or (B). For replacement of non–grounding-type receptacles with grounding-type receptacles and for branch-circuit extensions only in existing installations that do not have an equipment grounding conductor in the branch circuit, connections shall be permitted as indicated in 250.130(C).
(C) Nongrounding Receptacle Replacement or Branch Circuit Extensions. The equipment grounding conductor of a grounding-type receptacle or a branch-circuit extension shall be permitted to be connected to any of the following:
(1) Any accessible point on the grounding electrode system as described in 250.50
(2) Any accessible point on the grounding electrode conductor
(3) The equipment grounding terminal bar within the enclosure where the branch circuit for the receptacle or branch circuit originates
(4) For grounded systems, the grounded service conductor within the service equipment enclosure
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Tom
