I am doing a small remodel on a house and customer wants all new outlets and switches throughout. Romex and plastic boxes mostly and I do ground all receptacles but did not do the switches,( the original switches were not grounded) but customer says all switches must be grounded. IRC code in this area. What does code say? Thanks.
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Anything metal
Yes, NEC requires switches to be grounded. The inspector should catch it and fail them if they are not.
It used to be acceptable practice not to ground the switches. Residential grade switches didn't have green screws on them. Then a while back, I can't remember when (10 -15 yrs?) it was put into the Codebook.
Ed
Edited 6/21/2007 9:52 pm ET by edlee
Residential grade switches didn't have green screws on them.
They are available without ground screws (for use in metal boxes and retrofits) and with ground screws (for use in plastic boxes and new work).
Both types are available in my local box stores, in addition to the electrical supply houses. Cost is around $0.79.
I took apart a switch once and it is mostly plastic. So it wouldn't make much difference if it were grounded or nor.
With metal boxes, the ground must be connected to the box. If you will notice, there is a little spring wire where the 6-32 attachment screw goes through the yoke. This assures metalic contact with the grounded metal box.
In plastic boxes, you should use the ground screw if it is provided on the switch.
~Peter
I have heard that it was because you never know when a coverplate might be replaced with a metal one.Then with the screws into the switch frame that is there was a defect that the coverplate could become hot..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
You don't need to be an electrician to wire things up in your neck of the woods?
You don't need to be an electrician to wire things up in your neck of the woods?
Not on anything up to running a new circuit. New construction does require a rough and final electric, but absolutely no building inspection of any kind. You can build a house that may fall down tomorrow and local govt. could care less. This is in northeast Tennessee. I moved here from south Florida where you honestly can not build a 3 riser stairway with out a permit, plans, plus usually an engineers seal, and definitely an inspection after 7 week wait for plan approval. Too much govt. in my opinion, whereas here is too little. But, I like this way better, perhaps more like what our forefathers had in mind. I do realize govt. codes are for our safety, and most people around here seem to follow them. Thanks
It's fairly common for homeowners to be allowed to do electrical work on their own home. In some areas "handymen" are allowed to do "minor" electrical work without being licensed.(It gets a little iffy, I'll admit, when I do wiring on my MIL's home -- in theory she's "supervising", but of course she hasn't the foggiest what I'm doing.)
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin