Electrical Grounding issues, and why they are dangerous

In the most recent copy of Electrical Contracting and Maintenance Magazine, I ran across this story. It's about replacing  non-grounded outlets with 3 prong grounded outlets and not rewiring back to the panel properly. Yes, it is legal still to do this as long as certain conditions and code requirements are followed. It's not the best way to do things though.
 
http://ecmweb.com/contractor/failures-outlet-testing-exposed
 
It caught my eye since the story relates closely to what we all do..... home recording.  The side bar story recounts the issues encountered in the rewiring of an older house which had non-grounded electrical outlets. The author was building a studio in the house and hired a licensed electrician to do the work.
 
Be sure to read the sidebar story called Home Studio Horror Story... the link > http://ecmweb.com/contractor/failures-outlet-testing-exposed?page=3   is also included near the very top of the main story. The writer opted to hire a licensed electrician to do the wiring job. The electrician hired, opted to take some short cuts to save time and money and that ended up destroying the studio gear and cost the electrician when it all had to be rewired correctly and the studio equipment replaced.
 
Having been zapped more than once on stage, and seeing a buddy's string touch a light pole and literally melt itself into the plastic nut....... this stuff is real, and it can be dangerous.  More than one time I have lost equipment to improperly wired stage outlets.
 
Anyway.... this is some food for thought.

Wow I never realized the statistics were so high of getting zapped onstage 70%... Well I can count myself among those....

I guess you could look at it that way. However, in this time and day, most people are trying to get things done as inexpensively as possible..... including most people here..... probably you too. I know that I do.
 
Since most people are not electricians, they simply have to rely on that person's skills that the job is done right, even on the cheap.
 
I fault the electrician for not double checking to be sure the hot and neutral were correct and the installation of the "bootleg" ground was a mistake.... that should never be done. Using a GFCI outlet is the best way to solve a missing ground wire that is legal. Of course pulling a dedicated ground is better but I can attest that from being in this business and facing this very issue, that is not the easiest or the less expensive way. Certainly, rewiring with new cable is the best way. Using a non-contact tester, it is relatively easy to be sure the hot is actually the hot and the neutral is the neutral..... there is no excuse for 120v on a neutral slot in an outlet. Had the electrician taken the time to verify this one issue, the entire destruction of the studio gear would not have happened. When I used to do electrical work on a daily basis, and knew I was working on a 2 wire ungrounded circuit, I was especially careful to ensure the hot and neutral were not reversed when I was finished.
 
Older electricians remember a time when grounds were not common. 2 wires was the standard. Hot & neutral. The service equipment was grounded and the neutral was connected to the ground at the service. As a result, many homes with older wiring may still have this ungrounded wiring in it. Bonding the frame of dryers  and ranges used to be a common thing....relying on the neutral wire to be the grounding means. This is known as 3 wire outlets. This is no longer approved on new installs. The new ones are called 4 wire outlets, having a separate ground and neutral wire. However, the older ones are grandfathered and need not be replaced as long as everything else is up to code..... wire size, breaker size, wire condition.....

A side note... you should never allow electricians or cable guys to run anything through a foundation vent... unless you want a rat problem. The screen is on the vents for a reason. I see it all the time and when I was not paying attention an electrition did it to my house. Within a few months I had to trap rats in the crawlspace and I could see where he ran a wire through the corner of a vent and the rats made the hole bigger... and a rat can get through anything it can get its head through. A huge rat can squeeze through a hole the size of a quarter... Just saying... OK, back on topic, sorry.
 
J

jbow
A side note... you should never allow electricians or cable guys to run anything through a foundation vent... unless you want a rat problem. The screen is on the vents for a reason. I see it all the time and when I was not paying attention an electrition did it to my house. Within a few months I had to trap rats in the crawlspace and I could see where he ran a wire through the corner of a vent and the rats made the hole bigger... and a rat can get through anything it can get its head through. A huge rat can squeeze through a hole the size of a quarter... Just saying... OK, back on topic, sorry.
 
J

Doe this mean that if you get rats running through the house you can sue the cable guy or electrician for fixing the foundation, floorboards and rat extermination?

Doc_Hollingsworth

jbow
A side note... you should never allow electricians or cable guys to run anything through a foundation vent... unless you want a rat problem. The screen is on the vents for a reason. I see it all the time and when I was not paying attention an electrition did it to my house. Within a few months I had to trap rats in the crawlspace and I could see where he ran a wire through the corner of a vent and the rats made the hole bigger... and a rat can get through anything it can get its head through. A huge rat can squeeze through a hole the size of a quarter... Just saying... OK, back on topic, sorry.
 
J

Doe this mean that if you get rats running through the house you can sue the cable guy or electrician for fixing the foundation, floorboards and rat extermination?

Dam rite Doc!! Sue the people who made the floorboards too, and the neighbors who put up a birdfeeder, the maker of the birdfeed, and the cat for not doing it's job. Sue the vent maker, sue everyone. Sue the city for no longer baiting the sewers for rats... you know rats are semi-aquatic and in nature they burrow along rivers, creeks, or lakes and have an opening on the bank and UNDER water... which means... of course... that if you are on a sewer system that a rat can easily come up through your toilet. They do that, just hope you aren't sitting there when they do it... snakes do that too. Nice stuff there... sue the toilet maker and the plumber on general principle. Lawyers, Guns, and Money...
 
Seriously, you can and should make them come back and fix or replace your vent and run their wires in a better way. Use a two piece Tem Vent and run the wire through a small hle in the vent surround, it ain't hard but I think they just don't know any better.
 
J

I fired the first HVAC contractor on my remodel from hell. I gave them a check for the first draw and suggested that I expected it to be returned uncashed.
 
When they asked why, I explained that it was evident that they provided no training for, or supervision of, their employees and the workmanship reflected that circumstance. I sent over some captioned photos hi lighting the most egregious details.
 
Ironically, I occasionally work on their television commercials. ;-)
 
Very Ironically, the last time my wife was called to jury duty it was civil case between an unsatisfied customer and the same HVAC contractor.
 
When they asked my wife if she was familiar with the HVAC business she told the entire story. She explained that we still have captioned photos of the poor workmanship and that they did indeed return the check uncashed.
 
They kicked her out of the courtroom.
 
The owner of the business didn't seem amused.
 
best regards
mike

Yes, that's a good policy.
 
In my case I gave them a check for the work that they had performed so as to demonstrate that I was not in any way trying to get over on them.
 
I know it's not the normal way of doing things but it worked out.
 
 best regards,
mike

 
Always in my gig bag when I'm helping out a friend's band - always used along with Furman power conditioners.