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
