Grounded outlet

[hifidan]

I live in an old house and I have part of the electrical wiring running 2 wires (no ground) in some outlets. Can I run a ground wire from a proper grounded outlet from another proper grounded outlet in the same room. The grounds would not be back to the main circuit box . (I would have 2 circuit sharing the same ground. I have my main amp (YBA 2 Alpha) connnected to this old circuit and want to use a proper power station and i need a proper groud.
THKS in advance.
HifiDan

[uncooked]

personally if i was you. i would run a good quality extension cord from the 3 plug outlet over to where you amplifier is. and plug your power bar into the extension cord. i think that would be safer then running just a seperate ground.

this way you will have a cord along the floor. i hope you would be able to hide it under a base board or something.

[skeptic]

I live in an old house and I have part of the electrical wiring running 2 wires (no ground) in some outlets. Can I run a ground wire from a proper grounded outlet from another proper grounded outlet in the same room. The grounds would not be back to the main circuit box . (I would have 2 circuit sharing the same ground. I have my main amp (YBA 2 Alpha) connnected to this old circuit and want to use a proper power station and i need a proper groud.
THKS in advance.
HifiDan

The intuitive answer is that something is better than nothing but the truth is without the electrical code in front of me, based on my experience, I'd have to say that this would be an electrical code violation. If you want to be sure, you can contact your local building department. Since anything approved by them when your house was built is grandfathered, you don't run the risk of them telling you they are coming to inspect your entire house and citing you.

You may have a couple of options besides running a new wire back to your circuit breaker panel or fuse box. If you are not handy with tools and familiar with housewiring, get the advice of someone who is or an electrician to avoid the risk of shock or electrocution. First turn off the circuit breaker or remove the fuse to the circuit with the outlet you are interested in. Then when you are sure it is dead, remove the outlet and inspect the wiring and the box. If the wiring is BX you are in good shape. You will need to replace the box with a metal one if it isn't metal already. You can then install a new grounded outlet and connect a "bonding jumper", that is a small length of wire from the outlet ground to the box. Be sure the BX connector to the box is tight and secure. If the wire is Romex with a ground wire, you can wire nut this ground wire with an additional pigtail from a new outlet ground or just connect it to the new outlet if possible. If you have only two wires going back to your fuse or breaker box with no ground, you are out of luck and will have to install a new wire. An experienced electrician can advise the best way to minimize the number of holes you will have to drill. Often, sales people in the electrical department at Home Depot some of whom are experienced electricians can give advice and you can also get advice in home improvement and repair books available at Home Depot as well. If you are not familiar with this kind of work, get someone who is, preferably an electrician. Not only do you risk severe electrical shock and electrocution, you can damage your home's electrical system if you make a mistake. BTW, don't get sold on expensive hospital grade or other outlets. Any UL approved outlet will work as well as any other and should cost no more than about a dollar.

[Tony_Montana]

The best solution for problem like this is to tap a ground from the fuse box panel to the outlet since that will offer the least path length to outside ground as ground wires should always be kept as short as possible, and/or be as close as possible to the fuse box panel. But if you are not an electrician, I would go other routes.

Uncooked have a good idea about the extension cord, or you could plug in the power station into grounded outlet, and then take an extension cord from that to your amplifier :)

[skeptic]

The best solution for problem like this is to tap a ground from the fuse box panel to the outlet since that will offer the least path length to outside ground as ground wires should always be kept as short as possible, and/or be as close as possible to the fuse box panel.

I think the ground wire must be run along with the phase and neutral wires. While jury rigging might work electrically, it usually doesn't conform to the National Electrical Code. Any accident where such an installation is suspect in the cause would not be covered under your home owner's insurance.

[uncooked]

i dont under stand why you would want to go to the hassle of running a wire back to the panel just use an extension cord like i said before.

you said in your first post can i run a ground from that plug, if you did that you would have a wire going across the floor anyways so you must be able to hide it some way? so just run an extension cord.

[skeptic]

i dont under stand why you would want to go to the hassle of running a wire back to the panel just use an extension cord like i said before.

you said in your first post can i run a ground from that plug, if you did that you would have a wire going across the floor anyways so you must be able to hide it some way? so just run an extension cord.

If you have to run the extension cord say past a doorway, you would create a tripping hazard. A grounded heavy duty extension cord is usually a big ugly round orange wire that most people won't like if it is visible.

I did NOT say you could run a ground wire across the floor. You CANNOT run a ground wire from one receptacle to be used with power from another. I thought I made that clear. I said that there might be a ground wire in the box with the receptacle already if it is supplied with bx or Romex. If it is, I told you how to make use of it by replacing the receptacle. You only replace the wire back to the circuit breaker box if you have no other CODE LEGAL choice. Jury rigging is not allowed and an extension cord may be unsightly or a tripping hazard.

[piece-it pete]

Yeeowwch!!

Me being me, I would probably drill a small hole in the floor & run a ground to the nearest cold water line. Note I'm not suggesting you do this, as it is certainly nowhere near code :).

Heck if you're doing that you might as well run the ground back to the box.

Well since you've gone and practically run a new line you might as well run a new line!

You have nice equipment, I suggest you simply run a dedicated circuit. Even paying someone is usually <$100.

Good Luck!! (and if you're a DIYer don't forget the tester - & be careful working in the box!)

Pete

[uncooked]

no skeptic i never meant it like that through a doorway. all i mean is in hifidans first post he said can i run a ground from another plug to this one. so i thought this must mean that he has a way to hide the cable. so if he could run a ground wire across the floor why not run a extension cord?

[hifidan]

no skeptic i never meant it like that through a doorway. all i mean is in hifidans first post he said can i run a ground from another plug to this one. so i thought this must mean that he has a way to hide the cable. so if he could run a ground wire across the floor why not run a extension cord?

Thank you for all your answers. The reason I can't use an extension cord is that the other circuit is already loaded with Sub Power amp Parasound 1500A 305 wpc /4 ohms (7 amps), TV (1.5 amps) and Denon AVR4800 (10.9 amps). I guess I will run a new line using a 12 gauge 3 wires so I will have 2 the circuits on the same wire (Sharing the white wire) and a GROUND. %%%%%
Thanks again
Hifidan

[uncooked]

ok. how about this...

you run a extension cord from the plug with no ground. back to where the plug is with the ground and all the stuff is plugged into. then new extension cord you have run, plug a bar into it and plug all the stuff you listed into that. then the outlet with no ground will be loaded.

if you have a component that is using the ground and needs that then you are forced to plug it into the outlet with the ground. everything thing else that does not need ground plug into the new line from the outlet with no ground.

then run a extension cord from the outlet with the ground back to the outlet with no ground and you have a ground there.......

there has to be a way to make this work without tapping into your breaker......