outlets question

[Machma]

Hi everybody
im finishing my garage with sheetmetal interior walls. the electricity was previously done so the outlets will be hide behing the walls. I have a newb question here. The sheetmetal is in contact with the outlets boxes. that means all the metal on the walls is ground?

 

['04 Cummins]

Are the outlet boxes metal? Are they bonded with the grounding conductor at the box and at the panel? If so, then your walls will be at the same potential as ground.

 

[Machma]

the outlet boxes are metal. and the grounding conductor is in the box. so the entire walls in the garage are ground..is it okay or not?

 

['04 Cummins]

Sure, its fine. Actually good, because it sounds as if there is no possible way that your metallic walls could become energized without tripping a breaker.

 

[bjcouche]

Wow, this thread just gave me an idea.

I am planning on using liner panel to finish my interior garage walls. I've never seen any NEC code that REQUIRED liner panel walls to be grounded. I HAVE seen requirements requiring the metal structure, beams, etc. of a metal building must be grounded. What if, for say I just had 1 wall of liner panel and it was fastened to a stick framed or wooden pole building structure? If a hot wire somehow came into contact with the metal liner panel then the entire wall would be a shock hazard.

I think I'm going to make sure I bond my metal liner panel to a solid ground back to the breaker panel.

Brian

 

[nehog]

the outlet boxes are metal. and the grounding conductor is in the box. so the entire walls in the garage are ground..is it okay or not?

1. In the box, and connected to the box are two different things. The ground should connect to the box.

2. The metal walls *should* be at ground. Not just OK, but desirable! That way, if some thing 'goes wrong' you won't have a section of wall that is live or hot.

3. You'd still need a connection between the box and the wall metal covering. Just 'touching' isn't enough to ensure you'd have a good connection. Each box (IMHO) should have some means of attaching to the box, and the grounds.

 

[Machma]

yeah of course the ground is grounded TO the box..sorry fo my poor english im a french canadian eh
Im pleased to hear that grounded walls are desirable, at first i was thinking that this would be a problem! hehe thanks everyone now its time to finish the garage!