No ground wire in ceiling?
Trying to install new bathroom exhaust fan. When taking old one out, a cut/disconnected/loose green ground wire fell out on its own. New fan has one like it, screwed into metal box. Other end should wrap around bare copper ground wire coming out of the ceiling.
Only problem is, I don't see any bare copper ground up there. It's just a neutral (white) and two hot/live (black and red).
Already cut the sheathing back just to see if a copper one is hiding back in there, still nothing.
Any advice on next steps? What should I do with the green wire from the new fan box? How terribly bad is it to not be grounded? (I know fully the purpose of grounding but I don't want to have to run new wires or anything)
Anonymous
9/29/2025, 9:25:48 AM
No.2947733
[Report]
Wiring on new fan box, not counting lights. All other wires match up for my planned setup. Main point is just to illustrate specifically the ground that it came with
Anonymous
9/29/2025, 9:29:30 AM
No.2947734
[Report]
>>2947785
(Panasonic whisperchoice)
Anonymous
9/29/2025, 5:39:22 PM
No.2947784
[Report]
Just leave it ungrounded. It will be fine.
Anonymous
9/29/2025, 5:54:37 PM
No.2947785
[Report]
>>2947732 (OP)
>>2947734
Looks like you have three leads in your old setup and now only require two. Perhaps you could ground the switch end of one of the original three wires, saving you from running any new wires.
Anonymous
9/29/2025, 5:56:21 PM
No.2947786
[Report]
>>2947732 (OP)
How old is the building? The code called for grands in wet locations long before grounded outlets were a common thing. It is possible, if the place was built in the late '40s to the mid '60s, that they grounded the box on the back using a sperate ground wire that was not inside the Romex. Get a multimeter and actually test for ground.
Anonymous
9/29/2025, 5:59:01 PM
No.2947787
[Report]
>>2947732 (OP)
do you ask on \adv\ when you run out of toilet paper taking a shit?
Anonymous
9/29/2025, 6:45:53 PM
No.2947792
[Report]
Call the HOA. There are codes against ungrounded fart fans.
Anonymous
9/29/2025, 8:38:22 PM
No.2947808
[Report]
>>2947810
>>2947732 (OP)
if that is 3-way romex, it will have a ground wire already, may have been chopped short though
>ground (bare)
>red (presumably unused)
>black (live)
>white (neutral)
Anonymous
9/29/2025, 9:00:45 PM
No.2947810
[Report]
>>2947808
this. remove old fan and that should allow you access to the wire. if it's too short you can add a junction box in the joist.
Anonymous
9/30/2025, 1:35:23 AM
No.2947846
[Report]
>>2947732 (OP)
Pull out old fan
See if theres slack enough in the romex or whatever to strip more and get to the ground wire. Also see if theres enough to even attach it to the new fan, sometimes its too short.
If not then install the new fan anyways. Youll be fine with no ground if nothing is damaged.
