Is there any legitimate reason you would NOT connect the ground wire on a circuit?

Question

I've been doing some remodeling on my house and had the need to move some electrical outlets. While doing so, I noticed that the ground wire wasn't hooked up on any of the outlets in the circuit (through a bathroom, no less). It was three wire cable, so the ground wire was there. It was just bent back or snipped off at each box and not connected to the outgoing ground line in any way.

If it were 2-wire cable, I could chalk it up to someone being cheap, but I can't imagine someone being so lazy that they didn't connect the ground wires when they were right there and available. Most of the other circuits in the house seem correct, so maybe this is intentional?

Does anyone know a legitimate reason you would wire up a circuit and not connect the ground wires?

Answer 1

No, there is no reason not to have the ground connected. Even with armored (BX) cable, you should connect the ground. There is an older style of armored cable that uses a wide metallic strip (inside) as the ground which is a bit flaky since it's hard to get a good connection (it is just supposed to connect with the box connector). The actual armor though is not designed for grounding, and should not be used or relied on as a ground (though in most cases, the electrical connection exists for it to work as ground).

Let me be clear though -- you should check what is on the other side of the wire, and make sure it actually is grounded (or, possibly, not connected -- which you can fix), and that it is not being used for some other purpose. Just a red flag for me: when someone snips off the ground it means they didn't know what they were doing, so don't assume that anything is correct.

One thing to look for - there should only be one common ground in your house, and everything should be tied together. If you have, for example, two separate ground rods and circuits mixed, you can have ground loops and noise issues, especially if you have sensitive electronics (TVs, amplifiers, computers) connected. All grounds should be connected together at or near the main panel.

On the same topic, you should have a ground wire connecting your electrical grounding wire to all copper pipes in your house, and to any gas lines. Be careful with placement, as often you need a jumper wire to go around a non-conductive water meter to connect both sets of pipes together.

Answer 2

Two possibilities come to mind:

1. The original contractor was negligent: the circuit is not grounded. This might either be because he was a criminal schmuck, or because he thought that GFI was somehow a substitute for grounding (which would explain why it's only in the bathrooms).

2. You are using armored BX cable, the metal sheath of the BX cable is grounded, and it is electrically connected to the outlet box which is electrically connected to the ground lead so the outlet is really grounded

I once came across a bunch of boxes like this (#2) in an old Manhattan brownstone. I couldn't find any ground leads at all, but when I plugged in an outlet tester, it did appear to be grounded, which surprised me. Then I realized the box itself was grounded via the sheath of the BX cable (which is exactly as it should be, to protect for the case of a loose connection inside the box) and that the receptacle itself will be grounded if the box is grounded. In fact even if you have a ground lead, it's good practice to connect it to the metal box with a pigtail.

Answer 3

I've seen this before in my own house. A previous occupant upgraded the wiring in one bedroom from knob-and-tube to romex. But the romex was connected upstream to a knob-and-tube circuit. Knob-and-tube circuits have no ground wire.

Whoever did the wiring didn't connect the ground wires because they wouldn't have done anything because they weren't connected upstream.

I'm not sure whether this was due to laziness or as a friendly signal to anyone who worked on the wiring in the future that it wasn't grounded.

Regardless of the reason, I'm assuming it was a code violation, both in my case and yours.

So to answer your question, in your bathroom there's not a good reason why the ground wire should have been disconnected.

Answer 4

Remember that ground can save lives.

I do not live in the US, but in my country the rules for ground are very strict. If you can connect the ground you have to do. And you are not allowed to have grounded and ungrounded equipment in the same room.

But reality often differs...

I have jusd replaced and expanded the electricity in our house. In the shed anything was grounded but the ground wire was not attached. So I did attach the wire. Some days later (during the housewarming party) we saw a flash and heard a loud bang. After some investigation I found out that there was an loose (life) wire that connected with the metal (now grounded) case which resulted in a nice and spectacular short circuit.

This means, that If I hadn't connected the ground, the metal case of the light was connected to 230 V AC unnoticed. Anybody could have touched that with probably fatal results. So I'm really glad I have the habit to examine and correct all electrical connections.

Answer 5

National Electrical Code 2014

Article 406 - Receptacles, Cord Connectors, and Attachment Plugs (Caps)

406.4(D)(2) Non–Grounding-Type Receptacles.

(b) A non–grounding-type receptacle(s) shall be permitted to be replaced with a ground-fault circuit interrupter-type of receptacle(s). These receptacles shall be marked “No Equipment Ground.” An equipment grounding conductor shall not be connected from the ground-fault circuit interrupter-type receptacle to any outlet supplied from the ground-fault circuit-interrupter receptacle.

(c) A non–grounding-type receptacle(s) shall be permitted to be replaced with a grounding-type receptacle(s) where supplied through a ground-fault circuit interrupter. Grounding-type receptacles supplied through the ground-fault circuit interrupter shall be marked “GFCI Protected” and “No Equipment Ground.” An equipment grounding conductor shall not be connected between the grounding-type receptacles.

In both sections it says not to connect the grounding conductor.

An equipment grounding conductor shall not be connected from the ground-fault circuit interrupter-type receptacle to any outlet supplied from the ground-fault circuit-interrupter receptacle.

An equipment grounding conductor shall not be connected between the grounding-type receptacles.

The basic idea here is that if there isn't a solid grounding path back to the panel, the grounding conductor should not be connected. If I came across a situation where the grounding conductor was not connected, I would assume there isn't an adequate grounding path.

_{See this answer for more information on replacing 2-prong receptacles.}

Answer 6

The only time I've ever heard of intentionally lifting the ground is in the case mixing panels and the associated equipment (equalizers, compressors) for live bands. Sometimes there's noise which can be resolved by lifting the ground. So, unless you are having live bands performing in your bedroom, I'd advise against it. (Also, we never pulled the ground at the source, but at the individual piece of equipment.)

Answer 7

The only legitimate reason I can think of: if the Romex extended an ungrounded circuit elsewhere.

Now, that's a bad idea for a bathroom (except perhaps for the light circuit). And if you ever do this, please label the cable to explain the situation. Or, better yet (as I have done) salvage some actual two conductor wire for the run.

Answer 8

Ground everything it wouldn't be in NEC If something bad hasn't happened like electrocution or your house being burned down.