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Having recently bought an older house (c1943) I am doing a little work on the place. While rewiring a light switch I noted that there is newer Romex wiring from the distribution panel to the switch, but older BX (2-conductors) wiring from the switch to the light fixture.

I now need to put in a junction box nearby to join the BX and a new length of Romex (which runs to a different appliance). This gives me a chance to connect the sheathing of the BX to the Romex ground wire (which is grounded at the distribution panel). Is there any reason not to do so?

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1 Answer

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The main concern I'd have with grounding the armor of BX cable is that you don't know what other metal that BX might be touching. The cable may contact ventilation ducts, plumbing pipes, even gas pipes, and so if the ground ever became energized in a failure situation, so would these other things. Exposed metal that becomes energized may also pose a fire hazard if it arcs to any flammable substance.

It is OK according to the NEC to use the sheathing of BX wire as a ground, IF the wire contains a "bond strip". This strip or wire ensures proper continuity along the length of the armor to avoid issues with an open ground. However, the bond strip itself does not have low enough impedance to be used as the ground wire by itself; you must clamp onto the armor sheathing in order to ensure a good ground connection. Many electricians recommend wrapping the bonding strip back up around the cable armor and thus clamping onto both. By "clamp" I mean securing the armor sheathing to the device box, which if metallic will provide proper continuity to receptacles and switches. If the box is nonmetallic, you must additionally connect a bare ground wire by inserting it into the clamp along with the BX, and then connecting it to the ground lug of the first device (and daisy-chaining additional lengths to other devices).

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-1 Advising not to ground a BX cable is not a responsible answer! NEVER, EVER is it okay to leave a BX cable sheathing ungrounded! If that cable sheathing ever becomes energized, and is touching ductwork, plumbing, gas pipes, etc. as you say, a grounded system will trip the circuit breaker and protect the homeowner. That is how the system is designed to protect. If you left it ungrounded anything touching the cable will become live! Possibly going unnoticed until a victim comes along! The Romex gets bonded to the metal box with a bonding screw, the BX cable is bonded through the box connector. – SteveR Mar 30 '12 at 23:37
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I have to agree. A HUGE point of the sheathing is to BE THE GROUND. The potential energizing of ductwork, gas lines, etc. is a risk if the bx is NOT GROUNDED. If the BX IS grounded, then the other lines won't energize because the charge will go to the ground, as designed. – The Evil Greebo Mar 31 '12 at 0:39

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