I have no ground wire in house?

Question

I have a white red wire for light i think and black for fan also greenground wire attached to hager rod. Theres no metal box in ceiling. How do I ground fan and light. Can;t get nothing to work no matter how I hook up wires asume I need a ground from somewhere. Thanks Denns

Answer 1

Most older houses ( built before the 1930 or 40's) were constructed without any ground wires running to the junction boxes. Those junction boxes have two prong receptacles and residents have had to use adapters for lamps and appliances having three prongs ( those having a modern grounding capability).

While it is not the construction standard now, these houses can be adapted with ceiling fans and other devices which are built with a grounding capability; however they can be successfully installed without the green ground wire attached to a ground if one is not there. The ground is not really part of the regular circuit unless there is a short and then it provides a degree of protection.

Municipal and insurance inspectors seldom require the grounding of such already existing receptacles in those older houses. The retro-fitting of ground wiring all through a house will be excessively expensive, especially an old one with lath and plaster walls.

The only receptacle that really requires a ground to function is a ground fault protected one now required in new kitchens, bathrooms, etc. But if these are not present in the older houses, they are usually ignored too ("Grandfathered").

Answer 2

please call an electrician before you burn your house down.  Based on what you described you do not have the knowledge to be working with electricity.

Answer 3

though it's risky but u don't always have to have a ground wire , in many mid-east countries they don't use such protection , just well insulate ur wires & go on.

U know it all depends on the construction Codes in where u r

Answer 4

I agree with Matt. Get an electrician to look at it. You may kill yourself or burn the house down.

"greenground wire attached to hager rod" ?? coat hanger?

Answer 5

Where I live, it's a free house call to the electrical inspector.  Phone him up, and ask for his recommendations.  He'll tell you what can be 'grandfather claused' and what needs to be done to make your installation safe without voiding your fire insurance.

Typically, there is a black, a white, and in modern homes, a bare or green wire from your panel.

The black is usually 120V or 'hot', and might come from a switch first.

The white is usually the return, or 'neutral'.

The green or bare wire is ground.

If you are installing a ceiling fan, it will have 3 or 4 wires:

1 for fan (some other colour, or white with stripe)

1 for light (a second colour, or white with different stripe)

1 for neutral (white)

1 for ground (green).

The fan and light might share one (black or striped) wire, if there are pull-chains to turn them on and off separately.

It sounds like your white wire is missing, if you only have one wire with white and red stripes.  You'll need to fish the solid white wire out of the unit before you connect it.

If you don't have a ground wire to the panel, check with your local electrical code first (simplified book available at home depot stores for $14) - but the following workarounds might help:

option 1: Run 12 or 14 AWG ground wire from the copper cold water pipe entering the building, up to your outlet.  Install a proper metal box, and pigtail that, the box, and the fan/lamp grounds together.

option 2 (not legal everywhere, but useful for a bench test): connect white wire and green or bare wire from unit to white wire from panel if there isn't any ground from the panel.  Connect all other wires from unit to black wire from wall switch or from breaker / fuse panel.

Don't make or break any connections with the power on.  Make sure your fuse or breaker is rated at or below 15 amps - and if you plan to do much rewiring yourself, consider replacing breakers with "arc fault" types.  They're a little pricey, but cheaper than voiding your fire insurance.