In my garage if I check my receptacles with a gci outlet tester it says there is no grounding. There is no gren wire but it’s all conected with EMT. The electrician who did it a few years back he said just put a copper rod in the soil 10’ deep and connect everything to that and you will have grounding. Is it the correct way ? I guess that won’t trip my breaker and won’t disconnect the power if there is a ground fault.
Garage not grounded
- Thread starter Joey94
- Start date
- Status
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
Welcome to the Forum. 
You say that you're an apprentice, have you studied any of Article 250? Take a look at 250.4(A)(5).
You say that you're an apprentice, have you studied any of Article 250? Take a look at 250.4(A)(5).
Thank you! That will be the first thing when I get home. I’m still learning and just bought few books from Mike Holt to get a better understanding.Welcome to the Forum.
You say that you're an apprentice, have you studied any of Article 250? Take a look at 250.4(A)(5).
- Location
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Occupation
- Retired Electrical Contractor
Is your garage attached to the home or detached? If the garage is detached Is the wiring to the garage in metal conduit?
- Location
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Occupation
- Retired Electrical Contractor
Btw, don't listen to that electrician.. He is giving you bad advice especially if he did this a few years ago.
ptonsparky
Tom
- Occupation
- EC - retired
x2
A customer with a garage shocking problem had the EG bar going to a rod. It doesn't work
Every item that was connected to that bar was energized when one of the branch circuit hots faulted to a cable connector that had been over tightened.
The conduit goes underground to the unattached garage. He said as he remembers the wires are burried only in pvc or similar tubing. No EMT. Which would explain why there is no grounding. As much as visible to me it’s all EMT going in the ground.
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
When was this installed? Prior to the adoption of the 2008 NEC this may have been code compliant if installed correctly. If you're reading open ground on the tester than obviously there is an issue.
- Location
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Occupation
- Retired Electrical Contractor
If it was done during the 2005 NEC then drive a rod at the panel-assuming their is one-- and connect it to the equipment ground bar. If the rest is in metal conduit then the pipe can be the equipment grounding conductor.
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
I was thinking about this but if the feeder conduit is metal and all of the branch circuit wiring is in EMT then why would the tester say that there receptacle is not grounded?
ptonsparky
Tom
- Occupation
- EC - retired
I believe it changes to pvc underground.
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
Let's assume for arguments sake that this is a pre-2008 NEC installation and that there are no metallic paths between the garage and the house. PVC raceway and the feeder is only 3-wires so you can bond the neutral in the garage panel and install a GES which will likely be two ground rods and you're done.
Dsg319
Senior Member
- Location
- West Virginia
- Occupation
- Wv Master “lectrician”
Are you saying there is no EGC included with the feeder conductors and there is no neutral-ground bond in the garage panel?
Take an ohm meter and go from the EGC bar to the neutral bar and see If it shows high/low resistance measurement and make sure you have a effective fault current path.
ptonsparky
Tom
- Occupation
- EC - retired
What size fuses or CB do you have ahead of this circuit? It sounds like you have a branch circuit to the garage. A feeder would have additional Circuit breakers or fuses.
- Location
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Occupation
- Retired Electrical Contractor
So you have 2 conductors in the conduit? If so I would pull them out and add a 3rd conductor- the equipment grounding conductor.
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