From: whit@carson.u.washington.edu (John Whitmore)
Subject: Re: A question about 120VAC outlet wiring..
Keywords: outlet
Article-I.D.: shelley.1qkm8iINN92t
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Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
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In article <1qids1INNebl@chnews.intel.com> crichmon@sedona.intel.com (Chris Richmond) writes:
>
>In article <1993Apr14.193122.20818@mprgate.mpr.ca>, vanderby@mprgate.mpr.ca (David Vanderbyl) writes:
>> In article <1993Apr14.172145.27458@ecsvax.uncecs.edu>, crisp@ecsvax.uncecs.edu (Russ Crisp) writes:

>> |> I'm considering modernizing some old wiring in my home, and
>> |> I need a little advice on outlet wiring.  Several outlets
>> |> are the old 'two prong' type, without the ground.  Naturally,
>> |> the wire feeding these outlets is 12/2, WITHOUT the ground
>> |> wire.  I noticed at the fusebox that some circuits have the
>> |> 12/2 with ground, and that on these circuits, the ground
>> |> wire was tied to the same bus as the neutral (white) wire.

>> This is contrary to the electrical code and should be fixed.

>Well, my house was built just last year, and the breaker box is wired the
>same way.  

	There SHOULD be a connection of the GROUND wire to a ground
in the breaker box.  There also should be a connection of the NEUTRAL
wire to a ground in the breaker box.  There should be no other 
place in the building where such a connection occurs (i.e. not in
any of the outlet boxes).

	The NEUTRAL (white) wire is a 'grounding conductor' for
the plug, and is NOT safe to touch, while the GROUND (green)
wire is a 'protective ground' and carries no current unless
some kind of electrical fault has occurred.  It's safe
to touch the protective ground, but not to touch the 
grounding conductor (because there is current in the grounding
conductor, its outlet-box end will not be at the same ground
potential as its breaker-box end).

	John Whitmore
