406.3(D)(3) Tying the neutral to ground in a GFCI replacement recep

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bbaumer

bbaumer

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Indiana
Hi.

A student in class right now suggests that a hand held GFCI receptacle tester will not cause the GFI to trip unless you jumper the neutral to the ground when replacing a two wire receptacle with a GFCI receptacle. No equipment ground is present.

I advised the student that making this jumper would be a violation of 250-24(A)(5) even though the equipment grounding conductor is not present an unintentional path to ground could be created depending on conditions of installation.

Anyone else run into this? I have not personally tried to test a 2 wire replacement this way. Advice? Input?

thanks.
 
A handheld GFCI tester does need a ground reference to operate. The internal GFCI test button will work without a ground.
 
If tying the neu, to ground is the only way his little device can trip it, does not mean the GFI will not work on its own. I would advise not to make the jumper like you said.
 
bbaumer said:
Can anyone comment on jumping the N to G at the replacement receptacle and its legality or lack thereof?
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The neutral (grounded) is a normally-current-carrying conductor. The ground (grounding) is not.
 
bbaumer said:
Can anyone comment on jumping the N to G at the replacement receptacle and its legality or lack thereof?
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And if you did, and lost a neutral, the grounded parts may (WILL) become energized.
 
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480sparky said:
I think he's asking "Why?".
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I am mostly after confirmation that 250.24(A)(5) is applicable since there is no equipment ground conductor present (old house, 2 wire branch circuit w/ no bare ground or raceway equipment ground present).

Is this jumper technically a bond to ground since there is no ground wire or does it not become a bond to ground until something is plugged into it that happens to make a path to ground even if it is a poor path.

Make sense?

Thanks for the replies thus far.
 
bbaumer said:
I am mostly after confirmation that 250.24(A)(5) is applicable since there is no equipment ground conductor present (old house, 2 wire branch circuit w/ no bare ground or raceway equipment ground present).

Is this jumper technically a bond to ground since there is no ground wire or does it not become a bond to ground until something is plugged into it that happens to make a path to ground even if it is a poor path.

Make sense?

Thanks for the replies thus far.
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Not technically a bond to ground it is downright dangerous. The ground screw should not be connected to the neutral which is a current carrying conductor. When the ground is connected to current carrying conductors the wire that will prevent a shock can become the wire that now delivers a shock.
 
Ah. Read the instructions for the GFCI device. A ground is not required for a GFCI to work properly*. I believe the hand held testers redirect current to the ground to create an artificial imbalance, which would cause a GFCI to trip. That is why a hand held tester is not an approved testing device, the buttons on the front** are.

*Please don't turn this into a does/doesn't argument. Read the instructions.***

**Buttons on the front refers to the common style of all in one GFCI device, not the remote location dead front device.

***Yes, I know any piece of electrical equipment is intrinsically safer if it has an EGC, that being stated, all it would need is a label denoting "No EGC".:roll:
 
bbaumer said:
Is this jumper technically a bond to ground since there is no ground wire or does it not become a bond to ground until something is plugged into it that happens to make a path to ground even if it is a poor path.
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It's not really either. It's a bond to a grounded circuit conductor, which is a problem because it's not located where the service neutral and the grounding electrode system are joined by the main bonding jumper.

On a related note: when you have a non-EGC'd circuit protected by a GFCI device, any EGC on that circuit should never have any connection made to that EGC, such as between two grounding-type receptacles.

The reason is that a fault to one equipment's exposed conductive parts could energize another equipment's exposed conductive parts (rules against using 3-wire plugs to begin with aside for the moment.)
 
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