| Author | Message | ||
     Badlionsfan |
We just bought our first house. I'll bore with the details later, but this issue is driving me nuts. Many of the sockets are the old two prong style, and much of what I plug in is 3, and they're all kinda loose. Is changing the old style over to the new a simple swap, or is there more to it? | ||
| Ourdee |
Switching the outlets are easy. The thing to check is the wires going to them. If there are three wires to the sockets, then you have the ground connection. If you have to run the third wire for the ground, then it becomes more complicated. | ||
| Badlionsfan |
what are the odds that a two prong socket is gonna have a third wire? House was built in the mid 50's if that helps. | ||
| Cyclonedon |
my last house I rewired it to have all grounded outlets. Just do part of the house at a time so keep expenses down. Rewiring is not that hard to do, it just takes time. | ||
| Badlionsfan |
Just saw online that Home Depot has the 2 hole outlets, so if I don't see a ground wire I can at least replace what's there with new outlets that aren't worn out. I didn't know they were still available. There are a few 3 hole ones in the house, mainly in the kitchen which was redone 10 years ago and the bathroom which we had done. We've already spent 20k in improvements, so the wiring (if needed) will be a while. I'll just keep using adapters where needed, which is computer and tv related stuff(power strips). | ||
| Stirz007 |
Pull one outlet (find the right breaker first and kill the circuit) and see whether it has two or three conductor wiring. If three wire, you can switch to a grounded (three prong) outlet easily. If it is two wire, it is more complicated. You need a third grounding conductor to use a three prong outlet. You can install a three prong with two wire, but it really isn't good idea as it would just give a false sense of security. If it is three wire, you need to make sure the other end is grounded through the breaker box. (my last house was ca. 1917 and had a full range of wiring cobbled in over the years. It took me quite some time to rewire it room by room to bring it up to current code) | ||
| Ratbuell |
I'm surprised your home inspection didn't catch the non-grounded electrical... Do NOT plug expensive electronics like computers and tv's into non-grounded outlets, especially if the area has 'dirty' electricity (fades, surges, outages). That's just asking for a new computer. Stuff like lamps, I wouldn't worry too much but the good electronics...use grounded outlets if you can. | ||
| Fahren |
What is the wiring like in the house? If you have armored cable and metal junction boxes, you can connect a wire from the ground post of a new, 3-pronged outlet directly to a screw inside the back box, and the conduit or sheathed cable will provide a path back to the panel box to ground. You said the house was built in the 50's, so there's a good chance this could work for you. Second choice: Is there any way to get a ground connection from your junction box to a ground? If so, you can run a ground wire from each box to a grounding point (like a metal water main, or back into the panel to the ground bar). Third Choice: replace each 2-prong outlet with a GFCI (ground fault interruptor) outlet - the kind that has a reset switch in between the two other outlets. These are what should have been used in the bathroom and kitchen renovations you mentioned, as they are required by code in these wet areas. But with a 1950's house, my bet is on having metal junction boxes and metal-sheathed cable for wiring, which would be great and easy for you to work with. There are some good DIY books out there, but be conscious of when it gets to the point you really need to bring in a qualified pro. | ||
| Bluzm2 |
I'm with Fahren. My old neighborhood was the 50's variety, every home had armored BX running to the outlet metal outlet boxes. The boxes were already drilled and tapped for a ground pigtail (you can buy them already precut with the screw in place). It was a very simple deal to swap out all the outlets. Just use one of the 3 light testers to make sure everything is correct and grounded. I did find some mistakes that had been there since the house was built. Polarity issues... Brad | ||
| Kyrocket |
When I bought my house it had all two prong outlets, house was built in mid to late 60's. When I took one out they had used three wire romex but just pushed the ground back in the box so when I switched over to 200 amp service it was a breeze to hook up all the grounds. We had an issue early on that drove us nuts. If the washer and dryer were running and the air kicked on it blew the main. Very seldom were the washer AND dryer running at the same time the air kicked on so it took us forever to find it. The original fuse box was the old 100 amp push button type. By the way congrats on the new home. Ahhhh the joys of home ownership you'll now know. | ||
| Strokizator |
Confucius say, "Man who own house always just coming out of hardware store". | ||
| Blake |
Grounding to metal water main is code violation here. Stuff like teflon tape, and a dry line can impede ground integrity. Waterlines not deep enough to ensure moist soil contact year round. Better than nothing, but not up to code. Not sure if using conduit meets code, I kinda doubt it. Poor connections at junction boxes and the like would compromise integrity of ground. | ||
| Badlionsfan |
We'll we're gonna go the electrician route. Was hanging blinds in the bedroom and one of the loose outlets caught fire when I plugged a fan in. | ||
| Ourdee |
Electricians need paychecks too. On grounding; it is easy enough to pound a grounding rod into the ground near the fuse box. | ||
| Badlionsfan |
Well the fire outlet has been replace. Hard to tell what happened since the outlet was melted pretty bad, but he suspected loose wiring, since several of the other outlets were barely finger tight. Since it was a 2 hr minimum, he helped me swap out all the other old outlets to use up the rest of the time we paid for. Just primed the wall around the fire with Bin and ready to repaint, again. |
