GFI receptacle without a ground


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Old 12-10-16, 10:07 AM
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GFI receptacle without a ground

"A GFCI will work and provide protection without a ground. The ground wire does not enter into GFCI protection in any way. An external GFCI tester needs a ground to work properly, but that is a different issue."

The above is a quote from another thread that goes along with what I already thought. If I install GFCI's without an equipment ground (the wires run through glazed tile bricks all aver the building and installing ground wires would be very difficult), a tester would read open ground and an external GFCI tester would not work, but the internal tester would work if everything else was right...right?
 
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Old 12-10-16, 11:02 AM
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Installing a GFCI does not give you a ground. The GFCI must be labeled No Ground. It just increases personal safety. If you have a device such as a surge protector it will not provide the ground needed for the surge protector to work. Basically the real reason they are used is to have a hole for the round pin on a three prong plug.
 
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Old 12-10-16, 12:14 PM
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I pretty much understood that (except for the surge protector) but what I was wanting to verify is the results of using a external tester in this situation. It will read open ground, the external tester will not trip the GFCI, but the internal tester will. This is not an ideal situation, but acceptable...right?
 
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Old 12-10-16, 01:03 PM
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Yes the plug-in testers won't trip it and might show a hot neutral reverse or some other spurious result. The self test on the GFCI receptacle should work.
This is not an ideal situation, but acceptable...right?
Under the NEC yes but local code may vary.
 
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Old 12-10-16, 01:06 PM
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The only recognized test is using the internal trip button.

As you found out the 3 light tester does not work on an ungrounded gfi. The gfi will still function as designed.
 
 

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