Is there a reason not to connect the ground wire to a chandelier?

Question

So, I am replacing the insides of a chandelier, but now I dont understand why the person who installed it would leave the ground wire hanging without being connected. I can see a ground wire taped away in the ceiling and I am wondering if there is a actually a reason for it not being connected. Or was the person who did it just incompetent?

The reason I am working on the chandelier is because it has been blowing out bulbs quite a lot recently, which I believe was caused by the state of the sockets - really old and rusted.

Answer 1

The only reason not to connect the ground wire would be because there is nowhere to connect it.

Older houses have 14/2 without a ground, particularly to ceiling boxes. The box itself may not be grounded. In this case, it would be better NOT to connect it to the box, as a signal to the next person working in there, "Warning! This is not grounded!"

But, it there is a green or bare copper wire in there, then by all means hook it up.

Answer 2

Usually you don't ground light fixtures that have nothing on them that is conductive that you can touch; example would be those plastic or ceramic rosebud fixtures (side note, I have no idea why I call them that). Most of the time they don't even have a ground terminal, so it's not even an option.

I'd like to see the wiring but sight unseen my guesses are:

• It is or the area you can come in contact with is plastic or non conductive
• It is old and comes from a time when not all fixtures had ground wire capabilities
• The ground wire was accidentally not hooked up
• It is grounded via contact with the metal fixture box (if it has a metal fixture box)

If there's a ground wire and theres a ground terminal, hook up the ground!