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Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!sun-barr!decwrl!amdcad!diablo!phil
From: phil@diablo.amd.com (Phil Ngai)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house,sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Grounding old electrics
Keywords: Electrical, Ground, House, Hints
Message-ID: <26924@amdcad.AMD.COM>
Date: 23 Aug 89 19:22:28 GMT
References: <2171@netcom.UUCP> <5057@teklds.CAE.TEK.COM>
Sender: news@amdcad.AMD.COM
Reply-To: phil@diablo.AMD.COM (Phil Ngai)
Distribution: misc
Organization: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Sunnyvale CA
Lines: 21

In article <5057@teklds.CAE.TEK.COM> brucem@teklds.CAE.TEK.COM (Bruce McAlary) writes:
|I have done some re-work of older 2 wire systems, code allows you to wire the
|neutral to the ground screw to on 3 wire plugs to satisify the ground. If you 
|examine a 3 wire system, the ground and white neutral are attached to a common
|point in the breaker box, thus you are accomplishing the same thing by wiring
|a jumper from the white neutral to the ground. Make sure you have the

Didn't we just go through this? As I understand it, this is misinformation. 

As Henry Spencer likes to say "NEUTRAL IS NOT GROUND!"

I believe that to do it right, you need a separate ground wire, of
ampacity at least equal to the hot and neutral wires. Otherwise, a
short from hot to ground could end up burning out the ground wire
before the breaker blows. Tying the socket's ground and neutral
together and only using a neutral wire exposes you to the voltage drop
across the neutral wire which can be substantial. 

--
Phil Ngai, phil@diablo.amd.com		{uunet,decwrl,ucbvax}!amdcad!phil
"Today surgeons are highly respected but they were once just grave robbers."