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I currently have an garage separate from my 50's house that has a single ungrounded fabric clad cable coming from the house underground. At one point I attempted to install a GFI receptacle and it seemed to take out anything beyond that receptacle (including garage door) and when I put the old receptacle back in it still didn't come back. I plan to take the wiring appart in the garage to find my issue.

What I want to know is while I am trying to figure out this issue can I replace the old fabric no ground cable In the garage with newer 12 gauge grounded cable and just leave the ground disconnected or tied to the metal box until I can get a grounded line to the garage? Note I will likely not be able to replace the supply line from my house right now, but I do intend to ground my garage in the future but I don't have the budget for it right now. Thoughts?

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  • UPDATE: Turns out the junction box that enters the garage has a ground wire attached to it so that box is grounded and I can just ground the rest of my garage!
    – user1394311
    Commented May 30, 2023 at 16:18

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Yes, that is OK to do. But I would actually install GFCI/receptacles (one per circuit, first receptacle in each circuit) and label each receptacle "No Equipment Ground". All receptacles except the one that has the actual GFCI should also be labeled "GFCI Protected".

This gives you a roughly equivalent protection to grounding without having the ground wire connected. There are still reasons to (eventually) put in that ground wire, but this takes care of the main life safety aspect.

Once you have the grounding system complete (main panel all the way to the garage, plus ground rods and/or water pipe ground as required) then you remove the "No Equipment Ground" labels.

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  • Awesome! I do plan to use the GFCI once I get the issue figured out. Once the budget comes in I plan to get the garage its own Electrical panel as I have a woodworking shop with power hungry tools that I don't want to have all on one circuit. Thanks!
    – user1394311
    Commented May 23, 2023 at 20:17
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    When you're ready to put in the panel (a) ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS HERE BEFORE YOU BUY STUFF!, (b) put in a big "main" panel - even though it will technically be a subpanel, it gives you lots of spaces for future expansion; (c) for feed use aluminum - e.g. 2 AWG will get you up to 90A; (d) consider conduit between main panel and garage panel as that lets you change things more easily in the future.
    – manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact
    Commented May 23, 2023 at 20:23
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    Especially wire. Buy the wire last. So many mistakes are made, many costly.
    – Harper - Reinstate Monica
    Commented May 23, 2023 at 21:18
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    I appreciate the advice! When I do go for the electrical panel I am planning on having an electrician do it to be safe but maybe I will look to doing it myself to save some money! When I had an electrician over for estimate he was going to put in conduit from house to garage so that makes sense!
    – user1394311
    Commented May 23, 2023 at 21:58
  • Find an electrician who you can (literally) work with. You can save by doing a lot of the work and it is fun (well for me it is).
    – manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact
    Commented May 23, 2023 at 22:05

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