Overhead Heater Fire - Another Electrical Problem

[Leo Vogel]

Well, after finding out what caused my small outlet fire, I thought that I would examine the other 220 volt outlet that the electrician installed. There were four wires coming into the outlet from the breaker box. Two hot wires, a neutral and a bare ground wire. The outlet was for a three wire hookup. The two hot wires were each hooked up correctly, but the neutral and bare ground wires were both wired together in the outlet box. It has been a long time since I wired anything, but I always thought that you never connected a neutral wire to the bare ground wire in 220v. Should the neutral wire be stubbed off in the outlet box and only the bare wire be connected to the outlet? More problems?

[Anthony Whitesell]

Not being an electrician, but reading all of these most and being an MSEE, I think the responses will be "The neutral and the ground are ONLY tied together at the main panel. Not at an outlet and not in a subpanel."

220V outlet requiring 110V service (otherwise known as 4 wire service) does require the neutral. But straight 3-wire 220V only requires 2 hots and ground. Atleast that was what I was taught here and how I wire the circuits for my jointer and bandsaw (using 12/2 with ground NM-B wire).

[Rod Sheridan]

Leo, it's a wiring error, you are correct the neutral and ground should be seperated at the outlet.

Disconnect the neutral at the rectacle and marrette it.

Regards, Rod.

[Charles Lent]

Well, after finding out what caused my small outlet fire, I thought that I would examine the other 220 volt outlet that the electrician installed. There were four wires coming into the outlet from the breaker box. Two hot wires, a neutral and a bare ground wire. The outlet was for a three wire hookup. The two hot wires were each hooked up correctly, but the neutral and bare ground wires were both wired together in the outlet box. It has been a long time since I wired anything, but I always thought that you never connected a neutral wire to the bare ground wire in 220v. Should the neutral wire be stubbed off in the outlet box and only the bare wire be connected to the outlet? More problems?

Leo,

You are correct! The Neutral wire should not be connected to ground in the outlet boxes. It should be carried through, if not used in a particular box, to provide Neutral further down the multi-outlet string, or terminated with a wire nut if it isn't needed. The only place that Neutral and Ground should be connected together is in your main house panel. It should never be connected together anywhere else. You need to report that electrician to the licensing agency or to his boss, and then find a qualified one to help you straighten out the electrical problems in your house and shop. If he worked for a licensed contractor you should call the contractor and make him fix everything for free, or report him. This is the National Electrical Code that is not being followed and your safety is at risk if your wiring isn't installed right.

Charley

[Matt Meiser]

I think I'd give your electrician a call and tell him that if he gives you a full refund you won't take him to court.

[Dan Friedrichs]

I agree with Matt. The boss of whoever did this wiring will be scrambling to keep you from reporting them when they find out about this.

This is not a minor error - this is something anyone who knew ANYTHING about household wiring would know is HUGELY wrong. Scary...

[Matt Meiser]

Even the idiots who wired my brother's basement didn't do this. They carefully wrapped all the grounds with several layers of tape to keep them from touching anything.

And I wouldn't promise not to report them. They need to be reported to the licensing agency in yoru state before they kill someone.

[Pat Germain]

What should be done with the ground wire in Leo's case?

[Matt Meiser]

In his other thread he found that the electrician had used 30A 125V receptacles. So what should have been done was using the proper receptacle and connecting the wires properly. Not sure on code, but if anything, the ground should have been used and the neutral shouldn't have--that's the way a "normal" 3-wire 220 receptacle is wired, but you usually don't run the neutral.

[Leo Vogel]

Matt - thanks, that is what I did. Everything else looks ok at this point.

Heck, I would of rewired my garage myself if I could still crawl around in the attic!

[David Weiser]

Matt - thanks, that is what I did. Everything else looks ok at this point.

Heck, I would of rewired my garage myself if I could still crawl around in the attic!

I was gonna say Leo, this is why I do all the electrical work myself.

[Chris Padilla]

Was your electrician licensed and bonded in your state? Did you pull a permit to have the wiring done?

If you know everything this electrician touched, you may want to look at it and either fix it yourself or you could spend time documenting everything and reporting the guy. I dunno...not sure what I would do. I guess it would depend on how much time I have and how secure I felt with fixing things.

Good luck...let us know what you end up doing.