Safe To Install New Outlet Without Connecting Ground Directly To Outlet?

Today I was fixing the water valve to the washing machine, and to get access to the water line, I had to disassemble an outlet. To my shock (no pun intended), I discovered that some moron bootlegged the outlet by connecting neutral and ground together.



Now I'm concerned that I may have this elsewhere in the house. What is the best way to test for this? Obviously I will see 120 V from hot to ground in any case, so that doesn't work. Continuity between neutral and ground is normal, because they are connected at the main panel; I measured the resistance between neutral and ground at an outlet close to the main panel, and it was virtually zero. But that doesn't meat it's bootlegged.



I don't really want to take each outlet apart. And even if I do that, how would I know that the moron didn't connect ground to neutral somewhere inside a wall?



Thanks,
      

We just got a used hot tub.  It ran fine where we purchased it but since we got it home, it has not run.  We installed a new breaker for the hot tub and an GFCI outlet outside.  The hot tub inself has a GFCI installed on it.  If we plug it into the GFCI outlet it runs for a few seconds and either trips the circuit inside or the hot tub.  Is it necessary to have a GFCI outlet outisde if the hot tub has one?  We are thinking that this may be our problem..redundancy.  Can we install a regular outlet outside instead of the GFCI outlet?  When we plug it into a regular outlet it runs.  We want to make sure that this is safe before proceeding.
      

Hi, I have a problem where if I turn off my light switch on one side of the  room, it turns off anything plugged into the electrical outlet on the  other side of the room. For some reason, they originally wired that  outlet on the same circuit as the light switch. I would like to wire the  outlet so that it does not switch off whenever you switch off the light  on the opposite wall.



How do I go about doing that? Thanks.



(p.s. There are just the basic three wires in the electrical outlet; black/white/bare copper ground).
      

I recently switched over from AT&T phone/cable/Internet service to Cablevision. 



The problem with both services is the coax cable coming through a hole in the wall from outside and then a phone line from their modem stapled to the floor board and tied into the phone outlet inside.  Then there's my phone lines, the coax cable to the TV... It's a disgusting mess.



I'd like to install a combination phone line and cable outlet in the wall and get rid of as much loose wiring as possible.  The phone line would come through the same area as the cable and I'd wire it on the other end to the main box outside the house.



I have no experience with this so my question is can I take the phone line from the Cablevision modem and simply plug it into the outlet and get all the phones in the house to work or does it have to be hard wired or piggybacked inside the outlet?
      

I only have one outlet in my living room and I need another one for sure. What are some ways I can do this?  There is not another outlet on the other side of the wall, we had a electrician come add a light with switch and he said something about closing off a line behind the switch box.  Is it possible to re-open that line? We also have a attic which I was told at homedepot is easy to do if you have another outlet in the next room you don't use. Any help is greatly appreciated!!
      

First off, I have read a majority of the posts concerning this subject and they have been very helpful and answered many questions, but I still have a few.



I am wanting to run power to a detached shed that is around 100 feet from the house. However, due to the location of my main panel and the easiest route to run the power, I am looking at running cable about 270 feet. I measured it out to exactly 263 feet, but figured it would be best to go longer. I am wanting to run at least 60 amps to the shed, as I won't be using it for nothing more then power outlets (basic power tools) and lights. Here are my questions:



1) What cable would be best for such a long distance run?



2) Would a 60 amp subpanel be sufficient for this job. I am looking at only 4 circuits: 1 for internal outlets, 1 for lighting, 1 for motion sensor light outside and 1 for external outlet. I am looking at the following panel:

http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical-...&storeId=10051



I have seen some marked 70 amp and wondering if they make a difference:

http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical-...&storeId=10051



3) Also, I will be installing a 30 amp RV connector circuit from my main panel  to the where I park my Camper Trailer, which is a run of about 75 feet. What would be the best cable for this sort of run under ground? Can I run both cable together in the same conduit until I junction if off to where I will be installing the plug for the camper?



4) Would the following be the circuit breakers to use:



60 amp - http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...&storeId=10051



30 amp - http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...&storeId=10051



I think that is it for now. Thanks in advance for all your help!!
      

I have a wall outlet I exposed recently. It was meant originally to supply an in-wall air conditioner (long since removed). The outlet is clearly a 120V, 20A fixture. The romex supplying it, however, has been marked in indelible ink by the installer: "220" on both sides of the wire sheath. The wire is 12/2 with ground. What did he mean by this? Could this really a 220V (or 240V) receptacle? Is that possible, using 12/2 and a standard 120V outlet? How do I verify what I've got?



All I want to do is relocate the box and replace the fixture, but the 220 notation sort of threw me. Does anybody have an idea what's going on here?



I appreciate your help. I'm new here, so please try not to smack the rookie around too much.
      

I have a 4 prong 220v outlet in my garage and would like to convert it to a 3 prong outlet for my welder and compressor.



Do I just put a wire nut on the neutral and tuck it back in the box?  Then install the new 3 prong outlet using the two hots and ground?



Thanks.
      

Trying to install a replacement floor outlet. I have a lew electric (RRP-1-NPR); It appears that the holes for the faceplate screws are aligned over the same holes that would secure the outlet to the floorbox. The previous outlet cover had 2 sets -- one to secure the outlet to the floorbox, and another set to secure the cover to the outlet, like you'd see with any other lightswitch or outlet. So now the outlet is loose within the floorbox -- what am I missing?

thanks
      

I am new to the forum so kindly bear with me.  I live in Mesa, AZ and have just had a PEX repipe done to bypass my copper hot water lines.  (God don't ask!  A real problem here with slab foundations.  I already had my kitchen jack hammered once.  It is NOT pretty!).

It seems really odd to me that just because it is a dedicated circuit  that code would not require that circuit to be GFCI protected.

I have a dedicated 20 amp duplex 12 AWG wire outlet under the sink and it is within a few inches of the water lines.  The outlet serves a switch for the garbage disposal and serves my dishwasher which is always hot. 

  Now that I have all my maple cabinets pulled out I thought I might change the outlet to a GFCI just to be safe.  I have a ground wire, a red wire, a black wire and a white wire.  As it is dedicated I think I should use the LINE sided instead of the LOAD side but I am not sure where the wires should go.

Could someone give me info on this?  It would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.