Quick Question on Switches

[James-W]

A friend asked me a question today and I really didn't have an answer for him. I am sure someone here will know the answer.

He was replacing a defective wall switch that turned on the light in the ceiling fan in his living room. He has plastic electrical boxes in his house. The new switch has a green grounding screw and he is wondering if it needs to have a ground wire attached to the screw. The old switch does not have a grounding screw on the switch. Since he has plastic electrical boxes, the box itself is not grounded. So according to the NEC, does the switch need to be grounded?

 

[pizza]

since i'm not an NEC expert, i'm guessing the "real" answer could depend on which version of the NEC is used in his area.

does anyone know if the newest NEC (2020?) requires grounding light switches? i don't have the 2020 on my computer.

it didn't used to be the case, but new light switches are commonly designed to be grounded.

but unless he's chomping at the bit to bring this random light switch up to code, tell him to ground it if there's a ground wire in the gangbox. since the box is plastic, if there's no wire in there to ground to, then don't worry about grounding it.

 

[Jim greengo]

Yes,if theres a ground wire in the box.

 

[Norcal]

Yes,if theres a ground wire in the box.

I agree with this answer.

 

[Terry D]

Like everyone else has said, switches now days are required to be grounded. If there is a ground present, then pigtail off of it a connect it to the switch. If not, dont worry about. But with plastic boxes, there probably is a ground present.

 

[nadogail]

IMHO, Ground the switch if you can, but if you can't, well you can't ground it.

 

[James-W]

OK, I will let him know what you guys said. Thanks a million gentlemen, I knew you would have the answer.

 

[sberry]

I just did a follow up for a neighbor that had the handyman wire up some out buildings. I opened a couple boxes and he did a fair job and connected all the grounds together and to the devices. I added gfci ahead of it, he had used 4 wire at any rate, uf and buried it deep enough but ewhen he got to the panel landed all the N and G on the N bar and must have heard not to bond the box,,, so I added a bar and a couple rods and route the entrance cable a bit better.

 

[alfredeneuman]

I just did a follow up for a neighbor that had the handyman wire up some out buildings. I opened a couple boxes and he did a fair job and connected all the grounds together and to the devices. I added gfci ahead of it, he had used 4 wire at any rate, uf and buried it deep enough but ewhen he got to the panel landed all the N and G on the N bar and must have heard not to bond the box,,, so I added a bar and a couple rods and route the entrance cable a bit better.

What's this got to do with the question he asked?