Swimming Pools

[fishki]

that looks like an old fiberglass molded box, if the copper wire I see is coming out of the yellow romex and the aluminum wires are coming out of the box then that connection should have been made in the box. The bare copper is your PG wire (protective ground) if that connection was to come loose inside the wall then not only would you lose protection, the only way to fix it would be to cut open the wall, and that would also be a pain in the ass to try to locate.

EDIT: Im not sure about california codes but I did not think NEC allowed that, and your house would have had to undergone an inspection before the walls were closed up. so i dunno...

[Drew]

Yeah those are fiberglass or some composite, not sure. So originally the PG comes out the top and crimps to another PG that I believe connects elsewhere for the protective grounding. So what if I redo the crimp and have my copper wire included in it. Or should I try to pull all of the PG back into the box? I'm not positive on code here either and I will have my friend come and inspect it before I patch. But I assume that was up to code for 1968 when the place was built. Not sure about today's standard.

So if it all has to be in the box and the box is composite, what would I connect the PG too? Or do I just splice all the PG together and it's grounded elsewhere in the building? I'll have to pull it all out again to be certain of where things are going and coming from, but I was just going with what was already existing. I'm going to pull it all out again anyway before I patch the wall.

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[fishki]

all the bare wires should tie together to make a continous run back to the panel box, and also should be connected to the ground on the outlet or light switch

[Drew]

You know, I was thinking about it last night but forgot.. That outlet does not have a grounding strap connected to it. The other outlet (cur wall side, outlet you haven't seen) does have it connected.

I probably won't mess with it until I take my leave from work. Mom gets grumpy when she doesn't get weekend breaks from the baby.

I want rewire the outlets so only my new wall lights are switched and the outlets are powered all the time.

Glad I posted this, thanks fish.

PS. Since you didn't use this thread for a swimming pool I will take it over as a home improvement thread

Edit: I'm almost thinking of cutting out the wall more and replacing that box with something larger to accommodate all the wires in there better. Makes me a little nervous squishing all those wires into that box. Plus I already have holes to patch what's one more bigger one. Or just making that lower smaller one bigger. It is already cut in 2 pieces as I did a sample cut first to see what is behind it.

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[nymphetomine]

haha don't let any lose end stick out m8.. could become dangerous in the future..

[Drew]

Ha, it's been like that for 40 years I think... Now I'm dealing with it.

What's kinda funny is this is the newest building I have lived in. Prior buildings didn't have PG in the wiring. I always had to screw in a wire to the box if I updated an outlet. They also always had metal boxes. So I didn't think much of it when I saw the grounding wires outside of the composite box.

But ya know like any at home project... 1 job = 10 jobs.

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[nymphetomine]

hehe, that is what i mean. it is like this for 40 years, and now you deal with it and you are not sure what is connected to what (who knows who did what)

i used to do electro (before i was kicked out of school)and we made a project once of a replica house, all wired in the yellow/green striped cable we use in my country as PG. was fun to do, but try to find out in the end what is what..

guess all im trying to say is try to keep it clean, even if it is a bitch to do..
anyway, god luck!!!

[fishki]

if your house was built 40 years ago, who knows what codes were back then, but if you do have a friend or know someone who is a certified electrician it might not hurt to just have them take a quick look at you house... cant be to safe with a wife and new little baby

[Drew]

So I replaced a light switch in the bathroom and it is the same. All the PG runs outside the box and then spliced. It then has one wire come in to connect to the outlet. One thing is for sure... I will not be tearing up every wall in the house to fix this... Ugh

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