Bootleg grounds -- electrical question

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Wed. Dec. 22, 2021 8:53 pm

Fred, that type of tester won't detect a bootleg ground.

 
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Post by grumpy » Wed. Dec. 22, 2021 9:19 pm

Why not, I think it would even if indirectly, I would have to look at mine and do a test.

He could wire a light bulb with a three prong , line and ground and if it lights he has his answer.

Another way would be to use a GFCI , it will not like the ground and neutral tied together and will trip. .

 
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Post by rberq » Wed. Dec. 22, 2021 10:54 pm

No inexpensive tester I have found will detect the bootleg ground. The most promising "cheap" test I have seen, is using a sensitive multimeter to measure resistance between neutral and ground slots at the outlet. If improperly wired, there should be zero resistance, because there is only a couple inches of illegal copper wire between the two slots of the outlet. If properly wired, there should be "some" resistance -- don't know how much -- because the multimeter's test current has to travel over many feet of wire to the breaker panel and back.

I will look into that.
Or maybe see if I can rent one of the expensive circuit analyzers for a few hours.
Or maybe just follow warminin's advice: pop off the outlet covers and look inside.

 
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Post by freetown fred » Thu. Dec. 23, 2021 7:56 am

Hmmmm, thinkin back 25 yrs--you're right--I was lacking the ground on a couple outlets & started tearing them apart and THEN found many with boot legs & more with no ground what so ever. Soooo R--expensive it is!!! :( Personally, me not trustin half the analytic gadgets--I'd start poppin plates--of course I've disconnected my ABS on my road truck!! LOL
Rob R. wrote:
Wed. Dec. 22, 2021 8:53 pm
Fred, that type of tester won't detect a bootleg ground.


 
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Post by Rob R. » Thu. Dec. 23, 2021 8:01 am

A screwdriver is not expensive. Like I said, open the outlets and check things out. Won't take that long and is a good opportunity to make sure everything else is correct.

 
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Post by rberq » Thu. Dec. 23, 2021 8:23 am

freetown fred wrote:
Thu. Dec. 23, 2021 7:56 am
Hmmmm, thinkin back 25 yrs--you're right--I was lacking the ground on a couple outlets & started tearing them apart and THEN found many with boot legs & more with no ground what so ever. Soooo R--expensive it is!!! :( Personally, me not trustin half the analytic gadgets--I'd start poppin plates--of course I've disconnected my ABS on my road truck!! LOL
From what I have read, if there is no ground at all, it is acceptable by code to replace the receptacle with a GFCI -- getting rid of the bootleg, of course. So not too expensive.

As to disconnecting your truck's ABS -- there we can have a debate rivaled only by standard vs. barometric dampers. ;)

 
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Post by McGiever » Thu. Dec. 23, 2021 11:24 am

freetown fred wrote:
Wed. Dec. 22, 2021 7:47 pm
Confused yet R??? LOL--I had a bunch of boot legs in this old farm house--here's what identified them-- company name is "calterm"--Klein tool has them--"receptical tester" cost around $10.00. Orrrrr ya ccan go the expensive route to tell ya the same thing!!! double LOL
:yes: Perfect!

But only good or works on the 3 prong outlets...

 
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Post by McGiever » Thu. Dec. 23, 2021 11:39 am

rberq wrote:
Thu. Dec. 23, 2021 8:23 am
From what I have read, if there is no ground at all, it is acceptable by code to replace the receptacle with a GFCI-- getting rid of the bootleg, of course.
Appears to be so...
GFCI-protected outlets are required in all bathrooms (for new homes and remodels). if you'd like the same protection but you have old, ungrounded outlets, the good news is that you can simply swap them out for new GFCI outlets and get full GFCI protection, even though there's no ground wire.


 
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Post by freetown fred » Thu. Dec. 23, 2021 12:39 pm

My point about disconnecting the ABS is---wait for it--I'm just talkin my 04 1500 Silverado--when I hit the brake pedal--I want me to be in control not some computer crap. It's all about choice.
rberq wrote:
Thu. Dec. 23, 2021 8:23 am
From what I have read, if there is no ground at all, it is acceptable by code to replace the receptacle with a GFCI -- getting rid of the bootleg, of course. So not too expensive.

As to disconnecting your truck's ABS -- there we can have a debate rivaled only by standard vs. barometric dampers. ;)

 
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Post by rberq » Thu. Dec. 23, 2021 2:10 pm

freetown fred wrote:
Thu. Dec. 23, 2021 12:39 pm
My point about disconnecting the ABS is---wait for it--I'm just talkin my 04 1500 Silverado--when I hit the brake pedal--I want me to be in control not some computer crap. It's all about choice.
ABS doesn't interfere with you until the wheel(s) start to lock up. At that point, the computer can think and react a lot faster than you can. As for me, they put the wrong chip in my COVID shot and now I can do fifty-thousand calculations per second...

 
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Post by freetown fred » Thu. Dec. 23, 2021 5:13 pm

Holy sht R, that's a lot of calculations!!! LOL

 
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Post by CoalisCoolxWarm » Sat. Dec. 25, 2021 11:21 am

In metal house trailers, there is something called "hotskin" where it only takes ONE receptacle to reverse hot and neutral on a polarized plug to make a problem, sometimes electrifying the metal siding.

I've found these by measuring voltage between ground and neutral sockets on a plug. If you get about 20v or so, likely a reversed or damaged plug somewhere.

Lower voltage is often a wet plug somewhere (pump house, basement?)

I don't know how well those test plugs work for this, but a DVOM will get you a good start.

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