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Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Question:
If a house was built in 1964 with a 2-wire system, and the kitchen is remodeled to have GFI outlets, how are the new outlets to be grounded? Can a ground wire be daisy chained to each GFI and connected to a galvanized water pipe? Or does the ground wire have to go to the panel and to the ground rod? Will the breaker panel have to be upgraded necessarily?
Rick Hadley
A
Answer:
Hey Rick thanks for your question. If the 2- wire receptacles were replaced with 3-wire GFCI type receptacles 406.4(D) applies. If an equipment grounding conductor (EGC) is installed in accordance with 250.130(C) as stated in 406.4(D)(1) and it is connected to the metal water pipe it must be done within 5 ft of where the pipe enters the building as stated in 250.68(C)(1). Other acceptable connection points are described in 250.130(C) and the EGC does not need to terminate directly in the panelboard.
But you need to comply with 250.120(C) and if you can get a separate EGC to one of those points consider replacing the wiring method with one that has an EGC - even though it is not specifically required. Also don't forget about providing AFCI protection and using tamper resistant receptacles as stated in 406.4(D)(4) & 406.4(D)(5).