grounding metal box ?

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norcal

Senior Member
I actually prefer the method shown in the OP's photo, even do it w/ MC (after stripping enough conductor of course) it seem to me a little cleaner way to do it.
 

jaylectricity

Senior Member
Location
Massachusetts
Occupation
licensed journeyman electrician
Does this rule make it illegal to wrap the ground around the end of the sheathing and clamp it into a metal romex connector? I find that method in old remodels all the time and it would be really handy when wiring toe-kick heaters with their ridiculous ground-clamp.
 

ActionDave

Chief Moderator
Staff member
Location
Durango, CO, 10 h 20 min from the winged horses.
Occupation
Licensed Electrician
Does this rule make it illegal to wrap the ground around the end of the sheathing and clamp it into a metal romex connector? I find that method in old remodels all the time and it would be really handy when wiring toe-kick heaters with their ridiculous ground-clamp.
No, but there is a rule that says that the screw for the EGC can't be used for any thing else. Your out of luck. Sorry that there's no good news for right now.
 

ritelec

Senior Member
Location
Jersey
No, but there is a rule that says that the screw for the EGC can't be used for any thing else. Your out of luck. Sorry that there's no good news for right now.

so install one rx connector for the nm wire.............. and another rx connector just for the ground........
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
E.G's defy the laws of physics. If they are all the same size they only count as one......... :)
True you only count them as one when it comes to calculations, but if you put 40 EGC jumpers in one box that don't leave the box they still count as one - but good luck pushing them all in and getting a device or cover on the box.

so install one rx connector for the nm wire.............. and another rx connector just for the ground........

The situation described there is a metal box with integral clamp - some used to wrap the EGC around the screw that is also the clamping method for the clamp - that is a violation the bonding screw can't serve any other purpose. Some used to wrap EGC around mounting screws - same thing the bonding screw can serve no other purpose. That screw does not need to be green however, some think it does. The bonding screw that serves as system bonding jumper or main bonding jumper at a panelboard, fused switch, etc. does need to be green though.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
I wouldn't be using it for anything else. Just leaving it empty.
Are you suggesting using the clamp screw for an unused clamp for attaching a grounding conductor to the box?

I'd fail it if I were an inspector - it is still serving more then one purpose, 1 bonding the grounding conductor to the box, 2 holding the clamp even though there is no cable being clamped.
 

al hildenbrand

Senior Member
Location
Minnesota
Occupation
Electrical Contractor, Electrical Consultant, Electrical Engineer
Does this rule make it illegal to wrap the ground around the end of the sheathing and clamp it into a metal romex connector?
I've heard about this "bonding method" mostly here on the Forum. . . never seen it in the wild. What I recall is that the practice of squeezing a romex EGC between the romex sheath and the jaw of a metal two-screw romex clamp (or the internal metal box clamp) was occasionally allowed by a local AHJ in the initial years of figuring out how to wire that new-fangled Romex With Ground. -- The 1960s.

There was a lot of varied thinking about what was acceptable practice. Where I apprenticed in Eastern Nebraska, if that romex EGC landed on the device ground screw, it was "enough" because the device yoke to box screws would bond the metal box. I left that jurisdiction before enforcement changed that practice, so I don't know what happened. I moved into Minnesota and was promptly taught the error of my ways. . . learned all about 10-32 ground screws and ground clips in a hurry. The key enforcement statement is the "bond can be used for no other purpose." -- That was 1971.

So, Jaylectricity, the two-screw metal romex clamp used to connect the EGC is two purposes.

some used to wrap the EGC around the screw that is also the clamping method for the clamp - . . .

There's been many a time I have removed the metal romex clamp from the clamp screw, re-inserted the screw and used it, in lieu of going and getting another 10-32 green ground screw. I figure, that without the sheet steel clamp, the clamp screw is now just a screw in a hole holding only an EGC. . . the very definition of "no other purpose".
 

jaylectricity

Senior Member
Location
Massachusetts
Occupation
licensed journeyman electrician
Yeah, that makes sense now that it would be serving an additional purpose. I'll use the 10-32 clamp screw occasionally, but like you said, only if I remove the clamp.

So how the heck DO you tighten that EGC contraption in a toe-kick heater? I basically spend 20 minutes finger-tightening it then checking to see if the EGC is still in the jaws. Then I take the EGC and put it back in the jaws and try again. :rant:

I suppose a small wrench would do the trick.
 
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