uma896•4d ago

Old timer told me I was wrapping grounds wrong for 10 years

Been doing service work for about 12 years now. Last month I was swapping out a panel at a trailer park outside Omaha and this retired master electrician was watching me work on his nephew's place. He said I was wrapping the ground wire around the screw the wrong way. I always did it clockwise but he said for grounds it should be counter-clockwise because of the way the screw pulls the wire in. I told him that didn't make sense but he showed me his old code book from 1987. I tried his way on the next three outlets and I gotta say the wire seats way tighter under the screw head. Anyone else ever hear about this or is this guy just old school?

2 comments

2 Comments

willow_anderson854d ago

Hold up on that counter-clockwise thing. I've been doing electrical for 15 years and every code book I've ever seen says clockwise for everything including grounds. The screw tightens down the same way no matter what wire you're using. That old timer might have had a weird 1987 exception or something but that's not standard practice anymore. I've never had a ground wire pull loose wrapping it clockwise properly under the screw head. If it seats tighter maybe it's just because you're paying more attention now.

val_taylor4d ago

Gotta wonder if it really matters that much for grounds though. Like, worst case it's just ground, not like it's carrying live current and gonna arc out or something. Seems like a lot of fuss over a wire wrap.