Grounding outlets and conduit questions

[AdrianeS]

I recently moved into a very old house with very old wiring. Until I can afford to have it rewired, I'm installing GFCI and AFCI breakers at the panel for the first and second floor and then adding 3 prong outlets for the house.

The basement is a bit more complicated. Some of the work looks like someone DIY'd it and didn't do it properly. The basement is all conduit and already has 3 prong outlets. I have an outlet tester and all of the outlets showed they have ground. I want to move the outlet for the washer so that it's not on an extension cord and also add GFCI because it's right next to a sink. However, when I removed the old outlet, there was no ground wire found. Is my tester bad or is something else wrong?

I will add that there is a ground line that runs along the conduit and terminates on one end at the main water line where it enters the house from the ground and the other end looks like it should be going into the panel minus one important connection. There is a ground strap on the water pipe along with a single insulated brown wire that goes into the panel but the two are not spliced together. They are sitting side by side (picture below). I thought of splicing them together but then I read that the line needs to be continuous.

Questions:

• How do I connect the ground wires that are already clamped to the pipe? Do I need to run a new ground line altogether?
• How can I ground the run of conduit to the new outlet for the washer?
• I have cast iron pipes ( I think, they look copper in the pic but they are really black in person) so what type of ground strap will not cause corrosion?
• Why is my outlet tester showing the outlet has a ground when I don't see any ground wires connected?

 

[Sparky617]

Answers after your Questions

• How do I connect the ground wires that are already clamped to the pipe? Do I need to run a new ground line altogether? Metal conduit will act as a ground path. The outlet bracket is metal and is connected to the ground of the outlet. It was typical in probably the 50's and 60's to use the metal conduit as the ground conductor. I'm not sure when a separate ground was added, I studied to be an electrician in the 70's and by that point the code required a separate ground conductor. You could add another ground bracket to connect a ground to the pipe.
• How can I ground the run of conduit to the new outlet for the washer? Is the conduit full? You could run a ground in the conduit.
• I have cast iron pipes ( I think, they look copper in the pic but they are really black in person) so what type of ground strap will not cause corrosion? Your pipes look copper to me. They are soldered together. Black iron is threaded, not soldered. Ground brackets for copper pipes are typically a brass allow.
• Why is my outlet tester showing the outlet has a ground when I don't see any ground wires connected? See above. Do the basement conduits connect to the panel cabinet? Where does the ground wire in your picture go? Is it connected to the panel cabinet? I assume one of the wires is connected to a ground rod to ground your plumbing and electrical.

 

[bud16415]

Keep in mind each time you get a GFCI fault you will have to go to the basement to clear it.



I have GFCI outlets in my kitchen and once in a while I get a trip just plugging the toaster or mixer in. I figure it is the price I pay for the added safety, but I would hate to have to go to the basement each time.



We talked about this the other day on another thread and it got me thinking. The OP there wanted to add a GFCI outlet to the first point on each run and let it cover the rest of the run. My luck that would be behind the bed or the electric fireplace. I think I would just add one to every outlet and if the circuit continued from that point ether make a pigtail or use the LINE OUT terminal. Would cost a bit in GFCI outlets but the simplicity of if something didn’t work follow the cord down and reset it. I can see chaining them on a kitchen backsplash where it’s common to know where the reset is, but in the rest of the house different rooms come into play.