ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area equipment ground to pull or not to pull

i recently went on a job with a fellow electrician who did not pull an equipment ground through emt that fed some building signs i suggested that we pull a ground to ground our boxes etc. i know that we are not required by code to pull a ground through emt. but i still wanted to pull one just to be safe. i mean what if one of the fittings came loose ? we would lose our ground.i let him talk me out of pulling a groun. what would u guys have done???

Make sure all my fittings were tight.

I always pull a "redundant" ground wire, Even in IMC and GRC. Maybe you can call it a "pull wire" in case of future pulls?

i'll second that !

smokey,

I would've liked to see a ground pulled too. Especially if we're talking outside with compression fittings. I never could trust them to be tight because many people would not take the time or effort. The whole problem with this has to do with proper workmanship and maintenance and the fact that it can't be guaranteed.

Bill

[This message has been edited by Bill Addiss (edited 05-29-2001).]

I pull in an equipment ground in almost all the conduit I run. I usually omit the equipment ground in the conduit that serves high bay lighting.

Like most electricians, I've seen too many fittings pulled apart & the public doesn't realize that the conduit is also the ground.

Tom

Agreeing with the others, I feel that it's a great thing to install an EGC with EMT runs.
Just makes the whole thing a lot more solid for ground faults.

BTW, on sign circuits - especially ones for neon signs, it would be something that really needs to be installed, simply for the center tap grounded secondary on neon transformers.
The newer ones I have seen have GFP, which looks like it will not function correctly without a solid ground bond [solid being lowest voltage].

Just my thoughts.

Scott SET

thanks for the opinions . next time i will stand my ground on the issue. i mean, whats a little extra wire gonna cost? i'd rather be safe than sorry. i agree it could serve as a good pull wire later!!!

I agree with all who pull the ground wire. We in the design always specify a groune conductor in all raceways. The elctrician who does not install one is looking for a liability lawsuit if someone get hurt or killed. We don't need that in this industry. Again this is a good BB. Thanks.

I, too am for a seperate equipment grounding conductor. In all conduit work I think it should be an automatic. In residential work I find the ground wire from the romex cables not properly grounded to 1900 boxes and or Gem boxes. You find a lot of guys use the 8/32 screw on the top of the boxes, and then install the blank cover, instead of using a green grounding screw and thread it into the boxes. I wish that 4" square box manufactures would come out with a box with a tail already on the box. This would force guys to do it right. Grounding's a great topic. Take care----Steve T.