07-15-2021, 10:42 PM
mikebw wrote:
[quote=PeterB]
[quote=Bernie]
If I had a ground wire I would attach it to the Green screw on the switch on the possibility that it is grounded at the panel.
Plastic boxes are the future.
Plastic boxes are not even so much as a pitch change when the roto zip slices through them.:facepalm:
Not sure I followed that. There's a green wire on the switch (soldered to the metal frame of the switch), which I assume should be attached to the metal of the box... but since the box isn't metal, there's no point in attaching it. (The screws that hold the switches to the box are therefore not touching metal either.)
You mentioned before that the green wires were loose. I assume you meant existing green wire in the box. Since you have a new switch with an attached green wire you should put them all together with a wire nut.
No, the green wires on the switches inside the box were loose -- they hadn't been connected to anything. There were no other green wires in the box.
C(-)ris wrote:
You wouldn't typically have a ground wire in the switch box in an older house where the line from the breaker box runs into the light fixture and then another wire is run to the switch.
Easy way to tell is if you have a ground and a white wire in your switch box. If not, no need for a ground as the red and black wire in the box are simply used as a loop to open or close.
No ground wire that I could see in the box. Just the wires going to the switches -- one was black and one white with red dashes. I connected the black to the black wire on the new switch and the white with red dashes to the white wire on the new switch. (There was also a white wire with red dashes on the new switch, but I figured out that this was NOT the right wire to use.)
Bernie wrote:
Bare wire goes to Green nut.
Older homes do not have the bare copper ground.
Dimmer has Green wire? Then it goes to bare copper wire.
Older homes do not have the bare copper ground.
Instructions vary. Some may state to run both Green and White to White when no ground is available.
As above -- no bare copper ground. The dimmer switch doesn't have a green nut, only a green wire which is soldered to the metal frame.
...
So -- to summarize: I was able to connect the new dimmer switches, but the green ground wires on the switches aren't connected to anything. That's the same as the dimmer switches I replaced (they weren't grounded either). The question is, is this dangerous, and/or should I do anything about it?