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Using spare red insulated 10 gauge wire as a ground

Home Improvement Asked by user208145 on January 12, 2021

I had some spare 10/3 NM cable from which I repurposed the black, white, and bare wires and ran through conduit. There’s a circuit junction nearby that doesn’t have a ground and isn’t spliced inside a j-box. The line side is just a hot and a neutral. The load side goes to a light outside and is 14/2 NM cable. The spare red wire from the 10/3 NM, can I use that to ground the 14/2 NM and just identify it as a ground with green electrical tape every few feet?

The portions of the NEC I’ve read pertain to identifying the neutral but I can’t find something that references the coloring of an earth/grounding wire.

2 Answers

Keep in mind that you can't use wires pulled out of cable because the insulation is not marked. You also have to have all splices inside a junction box.

But to answer the question, you can't use a red wire for ground, but you can strip all the insulation off the conductor because a bare wire for ground is OK. It might take a few minutes depending on the length and the tools at hand.

Correct answer by bigchief on January 12, 2021

Bigchief covered the subject pretty well. To add a few points:

  • The junction that is not inside a J-box is going to need to be re-done so the splice is inside a J-box and legally done (cable clamp on the sheath, 6" of wire length inside the box).

  • You are trying to retrofit ground. In 2014, Code changed to give you a great deal of freedom to do that. Search this site for more. Don't re-task red; simply tap the ground wire already in the /3. Do this in a Code legal way.

Answered by Harper - Reinstate Monica on January 12, 2021

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