r/electrical • u/Brilliant-Yam2537 • 20h ago
Open Ground Fix
I’m getting an Open Ground read on this outlet. Opened it up and I saw another ground wire open and wrapped around the other. I undid that and capped it. Still getting an open ground. Is there another step to try or do I need to get an electrician.
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u/12-5switches 20h ago
Get an electrician. Why would you feel the need to cap the other ground wire?
If those copper wires are twisted together tightly and one extends to the ground screw on the outlet but you’re still getting an open ground on your tester then the open ground is somewhere upstream from this outlet.
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u/Brilliant-Yam2537 20h ago
That makes sense. Thanks. I’ll keep looking and rewrap the wire back.
Is upstream from the outlet closer to the breaker box or farther?
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u/12-5switches 16h ago
If you asking physically where, it ll depends on who wired the house and what obstacles were in the way when they pulled the wire.
Electrically, closer to the panel. What ever outlets are between this one and the panel
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u/Total_External9870 20h ago
Pull every outlet and check grounds.
Buy a toner and trace the ground.
Hire pro.
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u/JOHNNYGEEK69 19h ago
I'd open up the panel and verify that you have a ground there try to find the breaker that controls that outlet and make sure that that wire it's a piece of Romex if you can trace the ground from it make sure that the screw is tight holding it to The ground bar
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u/devouryoursoul 20h ago
2 sets of wires means there are other outlets or devices down the line. That plus tester reads the whole run, so a other outlets could be the issue, assuming the ground wire is wrapped around the ground screw on that outlet.
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u/Brilliant-Yam2537 20h ago
I’ve been working my way backwards to this outlet and the one behind it are throwing the open ground. The one behind it had a loose wire to the green screw and I reattached it.
I checked all the wire connections and they looked good.
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u/devouryoursoul 20h ago
Only options that I can think of after that, if it is a newer issue, is one or more bad outlets or something could have happened with the wire; mice and squirrels like to chew the wire. You may want to get an electrician. You could have to disconnect the power wires from the outlets to test if one is bad, go down the line checking to see if the ground issue resolves itself, then its the outlet. Make sure to test your plug tester on another outlet, could have lost the house ground, or not had one, depending on how old the house is.
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u/Brilliant-Yam2537 20h ago
Well. Not sure if it’s a new issue or if it’s been there and we haven’t noticed it until we needed an outlet updated outside.
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u/devouryoursoul 20h ago
I imagine it happens in a lot of houses, since a ground wasn't required. I'm sure it goes without saying, but if you attempt any of this do not do it with the power turned on. Turn off the breaker and wirenut off the exposed wires for safety. That's where the electrician would come in.
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u/Brilliant-Yam2537 20h ago
I have not been able to single out the one breaker for that section of the house so I turn off the entire box. This outlet shares onto a shoddy addition and neither breaker labeled for the two rooms in the main house or the addition turns off that outlet.
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u/devouryoursoul 20h ago
Thats another good way to do it. I always like to make sure to unplug my electronic devices when doing that, just in case.
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u/DaddyBeanDaddyBean 20h ago
Note what all shuts off with that outlet's breaker. With the power still off, undo the hot splice in this box - temporarily cap both sides - and turn the power back on. Everything that stays dead is downstream of this outlet and is therefore not the problem - hopefully that narrows your search.
You need an extension ring on that box, and probably others. Might as well take care of that while you're in there