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I am working with an electrical socket and I need extra length on the ground wire. It doesn't seem unreasonable that I can attach an extra three inches to the existing one and attach it with a copper wire crimp. Does anyone see a problem with this?

I have no extra slack on the rest of the wires, so I am not able to pull it through any further.

This is the type of crimp I am talking about, but I guess it's crimp sleeve

oscilatingcretin
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    What gauge wire? Can you clarify what you mean by "copper wire crimp"? Perhaps link to a specific product? Have you considered wire nuts and push-in wire connectors? – Jay Bazuzi Jan 21 '12 at 22:43
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    14-gage wire. I updated my question with a pic. I guess it's actually called a crimp sleeve. You put the ground wires through it and the crimp it with a pair of pliers. – oscilatingcretin Jan 21 '12 at 23:26
  • I just noticed the last sentence in your comment. I never thought of using a wire nut since I only liken those to hot/neutral wires. I suppose they would work the same for ground wires, though. I'll give it a shot in a few days. – oscilatingcretin Jan 22 '12 at 01:13
  • @oscilatingcretin - Jay's right, you can add a wire on a crimp and attach it to the ground on the receptacle/socket. Jay should add this as an answer and you should select it as an answer and give him an up vote also. – lqlarry Jan 22 '12 at 02:54

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Technically, you should twist the extension bare ground wire to the short one and secure it with one of the copper crimps like you have pictured. A wire nut certainly would work , but it should be green. Practically speaking, either way will work and be safe, just a matter if you want to follow current NEC standards.

shirlock homes
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  • This is what I had done (twisting and securing with copper crimp sleeve). Thanks for the reassurance. – oscilatingcretin Jan 23 '12 at 14:20
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    @shirlockhomes could you point me to the article in NEC that says to use green wire nuts? I've searched and searched, and I haven't been able to find it (though they do use some odd language in parts, I could just be misreading it). Trying to learn as much as I can, so I can give better answers. – Tester101 Jan 23 '12 at 21:44
  • Just to follow up, where can one get extra grounding wire? Would a wire nut also work? If the existing ground wire is not copper, what other metal could it be (it's silver in appearance)? – Kermit Oct 20 '13 at 21:05
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    This part is incorrect: "...but it should be **green**." Wire nuts are color coded based on the wire sizes they can accommodate, not green for ground/white for neutral/etc. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twist-on_wire_connector#Color_code There are special green wire nuts for ground wires and a hole to pass through a looped wire (e.g. to connect to a switch, receptacle, or device) made by [**some** manufacturers](http://www.idealindustries.com/prodDetail.do?prodId=greenie-grounding-connectors&div=0&l1=grounding), but I cannot find anywhere in the NEC where they are REQUIRED to be used. –  Apr 04 '14 at 23:57
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    @Juggernaut The answer says "should", not "must". Green screws, wire nuts etc. are customarily used with ground wires even if there isn't a specific regulatory requirement to do so. – Niall C. Apr 05 '14 at 15:49
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    “Should” is still too strong. There is no requirement for green wire nuts on ground wires at all. “Should” implies that there is. Any color wire nut (that is suitable for the number and size of wires being joined) is perfectly fine for ground wires. – nobody May 12 '21 at 00:13
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As an apprentice electrician... years ago, I was trained to use these crimp sleeves on all of our residential installs. So, I have and still do, use these crimp sleeves for the purpose you described. The important thing is to install the device per the manufacturers instructions. There is a prescribed method for installing these things and you have to follow the method or no you shouldn't use it for the purpose you described.
the following link is a cut sheet for the "Ideal" brand product and doesnt show the method of installation,

https://rexel-cdn.com/Products/Ideal/30-410.pdf?i=43A07F9B-9189-41EC-90AF-6D1F4AA0126B

This link shows the installation instructions which should accompany the sleeves when you purchased them. https://media.distributordatasolutions.com/ideal/2018q1/936d9a932e1d05817dd91ffa8235e01ed2058e31.pdf

Basically, you spin your ground wires together 3 times using either the crimp tool or a pair of linemen's then crimp the sleeve over the twisted wires.

Kevin Simpson
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Based on my research the anawere is no. There are crimp sleeves that are copper with tin plating which I believe would eliminate the dissimilar metal issue of joining aluminum to copper wire but, you still have the issue of aluminum wires excessive expansion/contraction properties when heated by current that, I believe, is why there isn't any wirenut currently approved by CSPC OR NEC to join aluminum wires period. The only crimp system is copalum cold weld crimp pigtail system by Amp-tyco but it's only available by specially licensed installers. Your only certified way to join your two aluminum wires to a copper pigtail is using alumicon connectors that srew clamp each wire in a dedicated port.

I historically used the abrasion in the presence or non flammable anti oxidant grease but it is slow and not a preferred method, any more, because of the aluminum expansion contraction consideration.

My personal approach when it is impossible to either expand the box ( i.e. phenolic 1 gang boxes or fit 3 alumicon 3 port connectors in the box, and since the ground shouldn't be seeing any persistent current, is to coat the two ground wirers with non flsmable antioxidan, abraid them with #240 emery cloth (also coated with the grease) and then use 1 or 2 tin coated copper crimp sleave to crimp the 2 aluminum wieres to a copper pigtail which was already connected to the recpticle ground, fold in the wirers and device into the box and call it a day. There is a 1/2" box Extender ring if you don't mind turning the recepticle to a raised one.

Joe teolis
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