Bootleg Ground
A jumper from the neutral screw to the ground screw inside an outlet box, installed to fool testers into showing "grounded." It puts return current on device cases and is among the most dangerous common DIY shortcuts.
The bootleg exists because it is invisible to the standard three-light tester, which is exactly the problem: it fakes the safety instead of providing it. With neutral and ground jumpered, every "grounded" device chassis on that outlet carries normal return current. If the neutral connection upstream ever loosens (the most common failure mode in aging wiring), every chassis on the circuit rises toward full line voltage, and nothing trips.
Bootlegs are a signature of flipped older homes, where someone "upgraded" two-prong outlets for the listing photos. They are detectable with proper instruments, not the $10 tester. Finding one justifies assuming siblings: an hour or two of circuit mapping scopes it, and the standard remediation is conversion to honest GFCI-protected, labeled outlets.
Talking to a contractor about this?
Run the project past a licensed electrical pro first. Calls are answered around the clock and routed to a pro serving your area.
- Ground Wire (Equipment Ground) : The bare or green wire that carries no current in normal use.
- Grounding Rod (Grounding Electrode) : The 8-foot copper-clad rod driven into the soil near your meter, connecting your electrical system to the earth itself.
- Bonding : Connecting all the metal parts that could become energized (panels, pipes, pool equipment, gas lines) so they sit at the same voltage and faults trip breakers instead of waiting for a person.
- Ground Fault : Current escaping its intended path and flowing to ground through something else: a damaged cord, water in a fixture, or a person.