The mystery deepens in our ungrounded house

[westom]

12. Some Confusion exists

> So I buy a line tester and guess what? It says everything is wired correctly.

Some previous posts have created confusion. A line tester (a plug in the receptacle one?) cannot report wiring as good. It can only report defects.

To know a safety ground exists requires inspection. To confirm a current path, seen by the tester, is actually a wire, is firmly attached, and is sufficiently thick.

Confusion also exists between safety ground and earth ground. Safety ground (ie in a wall receptacle) is completely different from earth ground. A line test may report that safety ground is disconnected. But it will report no change if the earth ground is disconnected or connected.

Earth ground (like safety ground) can only be confirmed by inspection.

Some irresponsible homeowners connect a white (neutral) wire to a receptacle's safety ground. Then a line tester reports as good what is a serious human safety problem.

Also distressing was a previous post where a receptacle safety ground was connected to a water pipe. Also a code and a human safety violation. A line tester might report that ground as good when inspection (and knowledge of code) says that ground is defective.

Appreciate that a line tester can only report defects; cannot report any connection as good. Appreciate that an earth ground is completely different from safety ground (that a line tester tests).