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Granted, GFCI receptacles are more expensive than
standard three-prong ones, but the penalty for taking a shortcut here is not worth the savings. Remember to turn off all power before attempting this upgrade.
And if you’re at all unsure about yourself, call a licensed electrician.
I just moved into an apartment
with the older, 2-prong outlets. If I plug a surge protector in (with the help of an adapter for the outlet), will it keep
my electronic components safe? |
Yes,
it would provide a little more protection for you. When you use an adapter, make sure that you remove the wall plate screw
and re-attach it through the brass grommet on the adapter. One thing that is important
to remember is to not just change the 2-prong receptacles out for 3-prong ones if there is no ground wire present in the box.
This ‘floating ground’ condition is potentially dangerous if there was ever a fault with an 3-prong appliance
plugged into the outlet, since there would be no safe return path for fault current, other than through the user!
I want to install a new 3-prong outlet to replace the old 2 prong non-grounded outlet. No ground wire exists
at the outlet box and due to construction issues I can’t run ground wire to the circuit breaker box. If I connect a
wire from the ground terminal on the receptacle to the back of the box with a green ground screw, would this provide sufficient
grounding for the outlet?
This is not a safe practice. According to the Code, you are not allowed
to connect a grounding receptacle to a circuit that does not have a grounding path back to the service panel. Simply connecting
a ground wire from the box to the receptacle doesn't qualify and in the event of a short circuit, could cause dangerous fault
current that may electrocute someone.
I'm curious why you wouldn't just use a GFCI receptacle - that's what they're
designed for!
I have 2-prong receptacles (no ground)
in my 70 year old home that I would like to ground. Could I run a #12 or #14 wire from each receptacle to the overhead metal
water line for a proper ground?
No, this is not legal or safe to do. The Code specifies that the grounding conductor
must be run with the other circuit conductors (i.e. a cable assembly).
You have two options in this case: run new wiring
from your electric panel to each receptacle location; or you can install a GFCI receptacle at the first receptacle location.
From there you may install 3-prong (grounding) receptacles at all locations 'downstream' of this GFCI protected one on the
load side of the GFCI receptacle.
When doing this, you must permanently label the regular receptacles as "NO EQUIPMENT
GROUND PRESENT." You can usually find stickers in the box with the GFCI receptacle.
I'm changing 2 prong outlets to 3 prong. The ground wires are already
crimped together in the back of the box. How do I hook them up to the new 3 prong outlet with the ground included since it
wasn't used before?
You can take a short piece of #12 AWG wire and ‘pigtail-connect’
it to the ground wires already in the box using a wire nut. The other end of this short piece of wire would then connect to
the ground terminal of the receptacle.
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