Bootleg Grounds
To the Editor:
My experience with bootleg grounds
is just as Rex Cauldwell speculates
("Plug-In Electrical Testers," 12/95):
Most of the bootleg grounds I've seen
are in older houses where, when a
room is changed into a home office,
someone wants to give the illusion of a
ground in a two-wire system.
What I wonder is, since branch circuit
neutrals and grounds are screwed
to the same neutral/ground panel buss,
can current backfeed from the neutral
through the ground to the receptacle
cover screw?
Wayne Richard
FootHills Home Inspections
Seneca, S.C.
Rex Cauldwell responds:
In such a situation, the current can
most definitely backfeed from the neutral
to the cover screw (and metal cover plate,
if there is one). If someone