While adding come circuits to my garage I realized that some existing circuits were not done correctly. These are 240v 30 amp circuits to run power tools ( tablesaw, bandsaw ...etc ) There is 10ga 2 wire romex ( so black, white, bare copper) feeding a metal box holds a 240v receptacle. Currently the black and white are used as the hot wires and the bare copper as the neutral. There is no ground connection for the metal boxes. I have several of these circuits and some are pretty long runs. I'm wanting to know if its possible to fix this without ripping it all out and installing 10-3 cable and starting over. Here are the 3 ways I can think to correct this.
1) rip out all the 10-2 and replace with 10-3, giving each metal box a proper ground connection.
2) pick up a spool of 10ga white wire and running it along side the existing 10-2. In this case I use the bare copper inside the orange wrap for the ground wire and a 10 ga white wire outside the orange wrapping as the neutral.
3) similar to 2. Add a bare copper wire outside the orange wrapping, use that as ground. continue using the copper wire inside as the neutral.
This all inside a garage, running in the roof rafters.
Is option 2 or 3 a code violation?
Note:
These are otherwise simple circuits. A long run of wire to a single metal box holding a single receptacle.
I live in a rural area with no building/enforcement dept, so there is noone local to call and ask. I just want it up to code for safety and in case I ever sell the place.
Thanks in advance
1) rip out all the 10-2 and replace with 10-3, giving each metal box a proper ground connection.
2) pick up a spool of 10ga white wire and running it along side the existing 10-2. In this case I use the bare copper inside the orange wrap for the ground wire and a 10 ga white wire outside the orange wrapping as the neutral.
3) similar to 2. Add a bare copper wire outside the orange wrapping, use that as ground. continue using the copper wire inside as the neutral.
This all inside a garage, running in the roof rafters.
Is option 2 or 3 a code violation?
Note:
These are otherwise simple circuits. A long run of wire to a single metal box holding a single receptacle.
I live in a rural area with no building/enforcement dept, so there is noone local to call and ask. I just want it up to code for safety and in case I ever sell the place.
Thanks in advance
