I’m curious if anyone has run into the issue of Zooz switches being too tall for an electrical box?
Essentially, where the ground terminal is, it’s hitting the post the switch screws into. I’ve thought about using a dremel to trim the post a bit, but I was curious if anyone else has run into this and what the solution has been. I have a ton of switches I was going to install… it’s a bit of a nightmare.
I suppose removing ground is a bad idea? Ironically, none of the switches I’m replacing were grounded even though ground is in the box.
Yeah. Even if you use plastic wall plates, the mounting screws could still become energized unless you use screwless plastic plates. But if something goes wrong inside the switch you really want the switch housing to be grounded so the breaker trips. Anything that has a provision for a ground wire should be grounded.
It's not uncommon to see ungrounded switches, but it's sloppy work. Unless, they are the "self-grounded" type of devices, which have a metal clip which grips one of the mounting screws (but they're only allowed if you have metal boxes).
Maybe I'm missing something here, but if the concern is only that the mounting screw comes in contact with the ground screw, there's absolutely nothing to worry about. There is no electricity in ground wires (under normal circumstances, and even under abnormal circumstances, the ground would simply do its job of providing an easier path to ground than your body.)
Think about a metal box. The mounting screws are always tied to ground. Actually, even if the box is plastic, the switch itself already provides a path from the mounting screw to ground.
The issue is the switch literally cannot fit in the box because the grounding screw hits the plastic screw boss - so the whole device is too tall by about .2 inches. I'm going to use a dremel and slice off a bit and see if I can get it to fit.
Ah, OK. A physical limitation. Well, yes, if you can remove a little bit of the plastic female part without compromising its ability to hold the screw, you should be fine. If it breaks off, then installing an old work box as suggested would solve the problem. I'm pretty sure the issue here is the box is a bit out of spec .. maybe slightly warped?
I was talking about a situation where the switch itself wasn't grounded, which was the OP's original question ("I suppose removing ground is a bad idea?").
Suppose something goes wrong inside the switch, and the metal plate on the switch becomes energized. Without a self-grounding tab (which the Zooz doesn't have), the screw holding the device onto the box may not provide a good enough (or any) ground connection and the breaker doesn't trip.
In this unlikely but possible situation, the metal screws holding the switch plate could become energized.
Without a self-grounding clip, the mounting screw is not designed to be a ground connection and cannot be relied upon.
I was in no way suggesting not grounding the switch. The focus of my response was the statement
which I incorrectly took to mean "making contact with" rather than "physically can't get past it." There would be no problem at all for the ground screw to touch the mounting screw, metal faceplate, etc.
I wasn't suggesting you were suggesting that . I was just responding to the OP's question about not grounding the switch. I think we're all grounded in agreement here.
Worth mentioning that code requiring switches to be grounded is only somewhat recent. My 1988 house had no switches grounded because code didn’t require it back then. All this said it is not always sloppy work.
. I was just responding to the OP's question about not grounding the switch. I think we're all grounded in agreement here.
