Open ground for a washing machine - quick fix ?

Michel S. wrote:

Don't screw around with the wiring.
Install a GFCI receptacle on the 120V circuit
in the bathroom. It is required by code.

Ed

On 11/13/07 5:18 PM, in article C1s_i.1901$eV.737@trndny04, "ehsjr"


Have you checked if the ground wire or conduit is actually connected to a
ground?

Bill

Salmon Egg avait énoncé :

Thanks for your replies.


I agree too.

But with an open ground, will the GFCI protection be sufficient, given
that the washer manual says : "This appliance is equipped with
a cord having a grounding wire with a grounding plug. The plug must be
plugged into an outlet of standard 120 VAC, 60 Hz that is properly
installed and grounded.  Your washer should be the only appliance on
this circuit".



All I can tell is that there's a 3 wire cable entering the box;  all 3
are correctly wired to the receptacle and my tester shows an open
ground.

Note that I got the same reading before replacing the receptacle,
meaning that it is not the new one which is faulty.

My conclusion is that the ground wire is not connected somewhere, but I
can't tell more.  Remember it's a rented appartment built in the
sixties, I'm not the owner (nor an electrician as you may guess), and
I'm only looking for a way for my friend to safely use her washer by
the time it will take the owner to fix the problem once for all.

Thanks again.

Usually the washer and drier are side by side.

It probably wouldn't hurt anything to bond the two together.

I have found some weird wiring errors in troubleshooting home owner
wired houses.  I have found the bare "ground" wire used as a neutral
current carrying conductor in one home.
In another I found 18 guage phone wire used on a 20-ampere breaker to
supply recepatcles.
I would not assume anything.  If you are not an qualified electrician,
I would hire one to check out the wiring.

electrician@electrician2.com says...

text -

I've seen some pretty hair-brained things done by "qualified
electricians" too.

--
  Keith

Once on a wastewater treatment plant project, several of us decided that the
electrical contractor's foreman was a good man for a supermarket
construction
job, because he certainly didn't know anything about hooking up the
instrument
signal wiring going to my control systems.

Mike

Control wiring at a wastewater treatment plant is what we consider
gravy work.  Try running 4inch rigid metal conduit off a 16 foot
ladder in 30 below using a headlamp in the dark while wearing hard
hat, fall protection equipment, a respirator, steel toed boots, and
arctic gear.
Journeymen electricians do a broad range of electrical work.

Running wiring or conduit isn't really "electrical work".

And anyone who agrees to do what you just described is
flirting with Darwinism...

--
Floyd L. Davidson <http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)              floyd@apaflo.com

I've seen where an "electrician" failed to use 3 wire for the smokes in a
new home, and used the ground conductor for the interconnect to the common
alarm point. I've seen 18 gauge wire run through an aluminum door frame to
feed an outlet on a twenty amp ckt. I've seen a neutral wire from a 208 volt
panel adjacent to a 480 volt panel used for the lights fed from the 480 volt
panel. I could go on here for a few hours.......

The pay scale for residential wiremen is about half that of industrial/
commercial electricians.   The fact is many very unqualified people
wire homes.  I have also seen carpenters turn into house wiremen when
the carpentry work is slow.  There is a pervasive belief that anyone
can do this work.  Of course ignorance is bliss, and they proceed
doing electrical work without knowing that there are many NEC safety
rules that are mandatory by law for these installations.   That is why
many areas of the country have a permitting and inspection program to
insure that qualified persons do the work correctly.  If I were to
ever contract again, I would not touch house wiring, because there is
little money to be made.  The money is in industrial wiring.
And Floyd, by Alaska law, any work subject to the minimum requirements
as given in the National Electrical Code (NEC) is electrical work and
requires a license.  The NEC has an article on each type of conduit,
as well as many articles on wiring.  So installing conduit is
electrical work!  There is an exception for 50 volts or less and that
is why communication workers and low voltage control installers get by
without having a license in Alaska.  The State of Washington does not
have that exception.

In article <0daa3a41-ce3e-4e00-93ad-9973a8aada86
@b40g2000prf.googlegroups.com>, electrician@electrician2.com says...

Only because it's true.  There isn't much simpler than house wiring.


That might be true, only because anyone with half a brain can wire a
house.


Sevear pinko cities have the same asinine rules.  It's nothing more
than a license to steal.

--
  Keith

volt

volt

Evidently, you do not realize how dangerous electrical work is and do
not take the licensing as a means to protect both the consumer and the
worker.
I do, because I have several decades of experience.  The majority of
the experienced professionals agree with me.  Like I said before
ignorance is bliss.

In article <8967f3c4-8d1b-457e-8f58-
34d893fca7be@d4g2000prg.googlegroups.com>,
electrician@electrician2.com says...

wrote:

electrician,

common

to

volt

volt

Evidently, you have an over-inflated sense of self-worth.  The only
purpose behind licensing, at least as done, is to put money in you
rpocket.  You sound like the HVAC friutcakes on the homeowner's
groups.


Horse hockey.  Residential wiring is trivial.  If it took you
"several decades" to learn, you're pitiful.


Of course they do.  No one wants to bite the hand that feeds them.
Unions are like that.



If you think it takes great intelligence to do residential wiring,
you must be the happiest man on Earth.

--
  Keith

Here is some anecdotal evidence in favor of Newton: The electrical trade is
the one trade not infested entirely by cheap Mexican labor. Not even
residential wiring, which is relatively easy. The reason for this, in my
opinion, is that the average Mexican IQ is about 13 points lower than the
average white guy, and even lower than that compared to Asians. (Asians are
another story when it comes to electricity. They typically reside more
towards the engineering end of the spectrum, with very few actually doing
anything with their hands.)

worpylorp@mindspring.com says...

There is evidence that you're a racist, too.

--
  Keith

I assume it is easier for you to call me a name, than to logically and
factually  refute what I said. But that would take leaving your emotions
behind, and using your head. It would take developing enough spine to be
honest about what is before you. Try to remember that convention does not
equal factuality or morality.

worpylorp@mindspring.com says...

Not calling you a name, rather simply stating a fact.  You've made it
quite clear that you indeed are a racist.


--
  Keith

No, because a "racist" is someone with an unreasonable dislike or hatred of
a group of people different than his own. I don't hate any group, and what I
talk about is founded in facts. Facts I come by because I don't let popular
thought and PC ideas become a comfortable substitute for looking at the
world critically.