Is this correct for Green Ground Wire?

[smokey73]

I was running some wires and found this (see picture). Should the green AC Safety wires for shore power be connected to the metal outlet box in my head? The outlet is a GFCI outlet. If not, how should the green wire run?

Thanks in advance.

 

[DougM]

I'm not an electrician, but I believe with a metal box it's legal to attach the ground wire as shown because the metal ears on the receptacle are also attached to the box. What got my attention though is the way the wire is pulled through the knockout holes with no protection from the edges. It appears that the hot and common wires are also routed that way and unprotected. The potential for chafing through the insulation and shorting would be a concern.

 

[uncledom]

I was running some wires and found this (see picture). Should the green AC Safety wires for shore power be connected to the metal outlet box in my head? The outlet is a GFCI outlet. If not, how should the green wire run? Thanks in advance.

That actually is mostly correct. There should be a ground wire from that same point to the green ground screw on the GFCI receptacle.

 

[uncledom]

I'm not an electrician, but I believe with a metal box it's legal to attach the ground wire as shown because the metal ears on the receptacle are also attached to the box. What got my attention though is the way the wire is pulled through the knockout holes with no protection from the edges. It appears that the hot and common wires are also routed that way and unprotected. The potential for chafing through the insulation and shorting would be a concern.

Doug he's showing it with the wires pulled mostly out of the box and being stopped by the ground attachment. When reassembled properly the jacket on the romex style wire takes the chafe not the wire itself.

 

[Ron20324]

Me, I'd do away with a metal box.

 

[Stu Jackson]

I'm not an electrician, either, but someone seems to be doing house wiring on a boat.

It ain't a house, it's a boat. The metal box isn't grounded to the house.

Get rid of the metal box, use plastic.

Run the green wire to each receptacle and don't interrupt the green wire anywhere on the boat. Don't tie it to a metal box.

 

[pateco]

Doug he's showing it with the wires pulled mostly out of the box and being stopped by the ground attachment. When reassembled properly the jacket on the romex style wire takes the chafe not the wire itself.

I also see a screw down wire clamp for the romex so that it wont move/chafe.

A ground pigtail (Available at Home Depot)

from the box ground to the receptical would add an additional level of safety.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Not really

A ground pigtail (Available at Home Depot)

from the box ground to the receptical would add an additional level of safety.

No, it won't, unless the box itself is grounded, which it isn't on a boat.

OR

Could you please explain how this would do so?

 

[Ron20324]

No, it won't, unless the box itself is ground, which it isn't on a boat. OR Could you please explain how this would do so?

The metal box IS/should be grounded from one of the two cables-hopefully.

It's better to not expect the receptical being screwed into the box to complete the ground circuit. Better to use the green pigtail.

 

[Donnybrook]

Put the green wires on the ground (green) terminal on the receptacle and you are done.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Right

Put the green wires on the ground (green) terminal on the receptacle and you are done.

Yup. Can't understand why folks are complicating this and using household techniques on a boat. And it's just more connections, which is not a great thing. Less connection points are always better.

 

[Johnb]

If this was in a house you would want to make sure that both the box is grounded (so it does not get incidental contact to live and zap you) and the ground pin on the outlet is well connected to ground (so the appliance is made safe in the event of an internal current leak). This requires solid connections to both box and receptacle for the ground wire, not relying on the receptacle mounts to achieve this.

Even in a house there is nothing to inherently ground the box if it is mounted to a wooden stud.

There is no way I would proceed with that box on a boat, and I would look at the whole installation for type of wire, and type of outlet and where it is coming from and how any connections along the way have been made.

 

[uncledom]

That actually is mostly correct. There should be a ground wire from that same point to the green ground screw on the GFCI receptacle.

Stu, he asked if it was correctly wired if you added a green wire from the current ground location to the outlet it would be electrically correct as I said. I would not use a metal box on a boat but if there is one there it must have a ground attached to it as well as to the outlet itself.

 

[smokey73]

OP here. I did not do this wiring, I just found it that way. My initial reaction to seeing this is that the metal box and the green ground wires doesn't look right for a boat. The receptical had a green wire running to the metal box before I romoved it. It looked to me more like what you'd do in a house, not in a boat. I am going to check all the boxes. I would expect that all of them are the same.

I plan on replacing all the boxes with plastic boxes. I would then expect the green wires to be all connected together with well crimped connections. Do I then connect the green ground wire on the recepticle to the green wires? If so, what is the best way/location to make those connections.

If someone has a good picture of a correctly connected AC recptical and box properly wired I'd appreciate it. Thanks

 

[uncledom]

OP here. I did not do this wiring, I just found it that way. My initial reaction to seeing this is that the metal box and the green ground wires doesn't look right for a boat. The receptical had a green wire running to the metal box before I romoved it. It looked to me more like what you'd do in a house, not in a boat. I am going to check all the boxes. I would expect that all of them are the same. I plan on replacing all the boxes with plastic boxes. I would then expect the green wires to be all connected together with well crimped connections. Do I then connect the green ground wire on the recepticle to the green wires? If so, what is the best way/location to make those connections. If someone has a good picture of a correctly connected AC recptical and box properly wired I'd appreciate it. Thanks

Smokey that has most likely been on the boat a long time and show just a touch of rust on the forward edge. I don't know what the ABYC says on metal boxes but the National electrical code is fine with them. If you run wires into a metal box you must ground the box along with the device. If in plastic, all the grounds must be tied together and also attached to the device. There are a lot of crimps that can do this. The best way is to crimp both the in and out grounds along with a "tail", a third wire that is about 6" long to attach to the green ground screw on the outlet. I'm not working on low voltage stuff today, so sorry, but no pic.