False grounds & testing receptacles

[David C. Macy]

I thought I would share this photo to illustrate the way a typical receptacle tester is fooled when false grounds are present. I am glad I have my Sure test in my bag to properly test the receptacles. Turns out about 3/4 of the ones I tested had false grounds.

One time performing an inspection I was getting, open grounds, reverse polarity, false grounds and then my Ideal tester died. Thankfully it was warrantied and I received a new one.

[rbrady]

I have a LOT of homes with no ground conductors. I was always surprised that people did not use bootleg grounds to fool my cheap tester.
A couple of weeks ago I finally ran into a house where the receptacle covers were missing and I could see the bootleg ground straps. A house or two later most of the receptacles tested OK with no visible evidence of a ground conductor.
I got my Ideal sure test last week!