How bad is it to hook up a light fixture and forget to hook up the ground wire?
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I agree with Micheal N. I'm a veteran electrician so I've been around plenty of ungrounded fixtures and devices. We have a national electric code that is a compilation of rules resulting from people dying..for the most part. The reason that your fixture has a ground is because it's metal. If it was plastic, it wouldn't have had a ground. Where were you going to hook up the ground anyway? Did you even have a bare ground wire in the electrical box? Depending on the age of your house, there is a good possibility that you don't even have grounds and that you are on a two wire system already. The purpose of the ground wire in that fixture is so that if the hot wire shorts out to the metal fixture, it will trip the circuit ensuring that anyone who touches it not be shocked. However, if it's not grounded and the hot wire does short to the metal fiture then the fixture becomes hot or energized. If that happens, just make sure that you don't touch the fixture and the nearest ground...which I'm sure will be well out of your reach!!! As for one of the commments about taking the fixture down and hooking up the ground, yea you could have done that just as quick as it took to post this and read all of the replies unless it's 14 feet up in the air and if that's the case, who cares if it's not grounded, nobody is gonna touch it way up there!! But honestly, grounding is a life safety precaution that is a fairly new concept but is always recommended. Absolutely nothing can go wrong if you hook it up. Most likely you'll be fine if it's not hooked up. Which one are you more comfortable with, absolutely or most likely. They did start making grounded aparatus for a reason...
Can you say, "oh my god, call 911 my house is on fire"?
bad
very...do NOT turn the light on without that wire hooked up
the circuit could short and cause a fire
I can't believe some of these answers! OK... its probably a standard 120volt light right! If it works its grounded through the neutral (white wire). If you forgot to hook up the green wire that isn't as bad as you are being led to believe. That is a safety ground. For years light fixtures didn't even have a third wire ground. Let me ask a simple question. Got a lamp or a cord in your home with a two prong plug? Bet you do! WOW now third wire. Anyway... If the light doesn't work and you forgot to hook up the neutral then yes you should fix it.
To sum this up black is the hot wire white is neutral or the ground wire green is a safety ground. Which as I said many 120vac lamps don't even have.
Take the light fixture back down, and connect the ground wire. It is the most important connection of all, it just may save your life.
If you would have spent as much time hooking up the light, as you did asking this question. You could have taken it apart and fixed it. No Common Sense.
REALLY bad. Hopefully your homeowners insurance agent is not on FindHomeAnswers. Fix it before you burn your house down!
It could be a costly mistake if you end up getting your finger in the light socket.
Don't worry, your neutral shares the ground bus in the panel box.
There are a bazillion fixtures working without grounds.
If the fixture is outside, over a concrete floor (even if it's carpeted), or withing reach of water, sinks, and such. I'd take it back down and ground it. If not ground is available, I wouldn't worry about it.
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