I have an underground conduit running to a greenhouse. The white wire is broken somewhere. Can I combine white and bare wire to provide a complete circuit? I know its not legal, but will it work satisfactorily?
The boxes and conduit are plastic and the bare wire is insulated all the way to the circuit panel.
Jim F
Favorite Answer
Yes they are at the same potential, so what you are proposing would work, however it would be against any modern electrical codes to do so.
It is much more likely that you have a loose connection in your fuse panel/breaker box.
IF there IS a break somewhere, then the whole cable should be replaced.
If it is in conduit, then pulling a new cable should be easy as long as the conduit has not been damaged.
Good luck!
Dave
There's no risk about it, you WILL energize the metal conduit and boxes in your greenhouse as well as your breaker box and any other conduit that is connected to it, now granted the current should go to ground at the first point that bare wire touches the buried conduit, but it will do so via a poor connection (bare wire loosely touching conduit) which could heat up and cause a fire as well. To say nothing of no longer having a safety ground for any of your outlets. Replace the wire.
Jeff D
It will work after a fashion but if your definition of 'satisfactorily' includes safety, then no. You run the risk of energizing the metal conduit and boxes in your greenhouse, which could be quite hazardous especially in a wet environment like a greenhouse.
One advantage of conduit is that you should be able to pull a new wire.
kinkel
White Wire
Top
Home wiring used to be 2 wire, 2 prong. But, If you abandon the white wire and run a hot and use the unsheilded "ground" wire as a neutral what will you connect to the ground position on your devices? At best you have no ground. The neutral carries power back to the box when needed. Be safe, fix it right.