False Ground

[Jay Moge]

almost done #4 Tony, how you doing?

[Jay Moge]

Originally Posted by rbennett

Jay

What if one could show you how to check for this problem is about 5 seconds??

Will someone else - Jeff Poe etc come in with the answer to the problem?????


The ac voltage differenct between the ground and the neutral - Hi Z ???

rlb

if it's easier than doing what i'm going to do anyway (check outlets with 3 light, and open panel) i'm all ears....or eyes

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

Originally Posted by tneumann

the lack of ground in the panel would have been a red flag eh?

Not if the wiring was with BX. . .

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

You could measure the resistance between the grounding and grounded conductors (that's what the SureTest does).

[tneumann]

What should the reading be?

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

Originally Posted by tneumann

What should the reading be?

No that I couldn't tell you.

[Ted Allen]

Originally Posted by tneumann

What should the reading be?

If you get into that then you arew no longer a visual inspector.

The surertest will tell you things you may not really want to know.

[Greg Fretwell]

My 15 year old Ecos tester will find a bootleg ground, I have to believe that new Sure Test would. BTW this is exactly how you can get the deadly outlet that tests perfectly with the 3 light tester. Imagine if the bootleg "ground" was connected to the hot due to a reversal up stream.
Now the can of your refrigerator is hot. Grab that with wet feet.

[tneumann]

Dammit...sure test in my future...that is good news bad news eh?

[Ted Allen]

Listen to Jeff, he started around the same time I did , but he has had the fortitude, to learn far beyond the normal HI.

I wish I could keep up with him, but it has not been possible.

Jeff, as far as HI's go you are my guiding light

Hey Jeff,

Do you do WDIIR inspections?

I sold a treatment this afternoon for $7800.00 and I get 10%. Hey, every little bit helps.

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

I'm just a simple HI Todd. No frills, no whistles

[Greg Fretwell]

The reading the tester uses is less than one ohm and more than about .05 ohm. (25 feet of #12 copper). If it is less than that you get the false ground indication.

[Steven Brewster]

I removed the receptacle because there were two distribution panels in this home. One had 2-wire no grounding conductors and the other had 2-wire with grounding conductors. Some circuits were labeled but was difficult tracing these circuits individually so the next best way at that time was to remove the receptacle. No big deal!! Need a Sure-test, gotta have one!

[Joey D'Adamo]

Where that gets REALLY unsafe (read: lethal) is when someone upstream of that decides (or thoughtlessly "decides") to switch the hot and neutrals around. BAM... instant hot metal box, screw, and plugged in chassis of a grounded device connected to that receptical.

[brian winkle]

Also in that situation if the neutral becomes compromised somewhere along the circuit it will cause the grounding pin on the receptacles to become hot.

The suretest uses a resistance measurement to reveal a bootleg ground, won't it lie on a receptacle located very close to the panel?

Steven, kudos to you for removing that receptacle and exposing this serious hazard, I have found them like that in homes that were inspected and not caught, leaving me to explain to the buyer how they got screwed.