Is it okay to ground to box alone?

[Notch1988]

I've never really thought about it until tonight when I was wiring my 220V outlets. I always put the ground wire to the box only and never attach it directly to the receptacles since the receptacle is bolted to the box. I was looking at the big ground lug on my 50A-220V outlets and decided to try putting the ground to the receptacle. After many failed attemps at keeping the ground wire from popping out I went back to having ground just attached to the box. Is this an acceptable practice?

 

[pattenp]

Most likely the outlet you have is not listed as a self grounding outlet so the ground wire needs to be connected to the metal box and to the outlet.

 

[tankd0g]

I've never really thought about it until tonight when I was wiring my 220V outlets. I always put the ground wire to the box only and never attach it directly to the receptacles since the receptacle is bolted to the box. I was looking at the big ground lug on my 50A-220V outlets and decided to try putting the ground to the receptacle. After many failed attemps at keeping the ground wire from popping out I went back to having ground just attached to the box. Is this an acceptable practice?

My 110v circuits in my house were like that, which I discovered when a pinched cord on an old drill turned it into a joy buzzer. Are you having trouble getting the ground wire into the box without contacting the hot or just getting it in there at all?

 

[theoldwizard1]

My 110v circuits in my house were like that ...

At least for 120V circuit it was accepted practice for many, MANY years.

I'm sure that new wiring in an old house needs to conform to current standards. Besides, it does not work for plastic boxes !

 

[LXCam]

Most 50amp receptacles are not internally bonded to their frame. You need to ground both the box and the recep. If the ground keeps popping out, is the conductor too small?. What size wire are you using.

 

[Notch1988]

Most 50amp receptacles are not internally bonded to their frame. You need to ground both the box and the recep. If the ground keeps popping out, is the conductor too small?. What size wire are you using.

The ground on the receptacle IS bonded to the frame. I'm using #8 wire and the multistrand hot legs are not a problem but the bare single wire ground doesn't like staying put once I start bending and twisting the receptacle into the box. I did run 8/3 so I have a spare white that I could use as a ground and tie into the ground bar at the panel, I'm just not sure if that's legit either.

 

[LXCam]

The ground on the receptacle IS bonded to the frame. I'm using #8 wire and the multistrand hot legs are not a problem but the bare single wire ground doesn't like staying put once I start bending and twisting the receptacle into the box. I did run 8/3 so I have a spare white that I could use as a ground and tie into the ground bar at the panel, I'm just not sure if that's legit either.

Do you have room within the box to pigtail the ground?. That's the simplest solution. Your other question raises a great deal of discussion.

 

[Aceman]

The trick to getting wires to stay put is to tighten them down, then wiggle them, then tighten some more. Do this until the screw will hold torque. This way you know the wire is finally seated and won't come loose.

If this doesn't fix it, buy a different brand of recep with a better clamp or lug.

Another trick is to use a lay in lug to ground the box and pass the wire through to hit the recep. This way you don't have to pigtail giving you a little more room in the box.

http://store.cableorganizer.com/p-49039-aluminum-lay-in-lug-dual-rated-14-4-awg-qty100.aspx

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

When I work with stranded wire that needs to be wrapped around a screw my simple trick is to first strip around 3/4-1" of insulation off.
Then I strip roughly another 1/4"" of insulation and slide it just to the end of copper,this keeps the strands from unraveling when you twist it around the screw and tighten it down.