Question as to the purpose of self grounding receptacles

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Towzzer

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I notice the only difference on self grounding receptacles is the addition of a plate near one of the mounting screws. Does this make it safer than if you used a standard receptacle without the EGC connected to it but an EGC run to the box. According to both a plug in tester and a multimeter a normal outlet in the condition i just described seems to be properly grounded. Any thoughts on why I am wrong?
 
If you tighten a regular old receptacle down so that there is flat metal to metal contact, you have a code compliant installation. However, if the mudring is in past the wall a little bit, then this is where the grounding strip on the self-grounding type receptacles comes into play.
 
so the ears are resting agains the wall instead of the box, and this prevents the proper grounded connection ?
 
The receptacle requires a pigtail to a grounded metal box unless it is a self-grounding receptacle. Use SGR's allow you to eliminate the use of grounding pigtails. This is a common installation when using AC cable armor or EMT as the EGC with metal boxes.
 
Towzzer said:
so the ears are resting agains the wall instead of the box, and this prevents the proper grounded connection ?
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That is correct. The screw on a standard receptacle does not make good contact with the device unless it is in direct contact with the box--- of course the box must be metal in that case. As infinity said you would need a pigtail to the grounding conductor.
 
Maybe it is me but I think the answer has been less than clear.

If you use self grounding receptacles you do not have to connect a grounding conductor to the receptacle regardless of if it's against the box or not.

As Trevor mentions this can be a major time saver if your using AC.
 
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