great...new apartment only has ungrounded two-prong plugs | Forums

[Ba5tard5word]

I'm moving into a new apartment this weekend and unfortunately all the plugs are ooooold 2-prong plugs without the third grounding hole. Of course as a loyal Il-2 flyer I have a big old computer, a monitor, a TV, and all that jazz and I don't want this stuff to get messed up but I don't really know what the danger is. I seem to remember in my old apartment we had only two-prong plugs in the bedrooms and had a laptop plugged into it with no issues.

I'm just moving in so I don't really want to bother the landlords with expensive requests but on the other hand I have all this expensive equipment I want to protect. Is it a major hassle and expense to replace these two-prong plugs? Sounds like you have an electrician connect a grounding wire all the way back to the building's source of electricity.

[Ba5tard5word]

I'm moving into a new apartment this weekend and unfortunately all the plugs are ooooold 2-prong plugs without the third grounding hole. Of course as a loyal Il-2 flyer I have a big old computer, a monitor, a TV, and all that jazz and I don't want this stuff to get messed up but I don't really know what the danger is. I seem to remember in my old apartment we had only two-prong plugs in the bedrooms and had a laptop plugged into it with no issues.

I'm just moving in so I don't really want to bother the landlords with expensive requests but on the other hand I have all this expensive equipment I want to protect. Is it a major hassle and expense to replace these two-prong plugs? Sounds like you have an electrician connect a grounding wire all the way back to the building's source of electricity.

[TinyTim]

How about buying a surge protection? One of these I mean:



Pretty affordable prices (model on the pic costs about 25-30 EUR here) and no messing up with the wiring in an apartement. That's what I use atm. It also has UTP in/outlet, so you are guarding this "entrance" too. I don't know if it's possible to find one without the grounding pin in its own plug tho...

[Ba5tard5word]

I have a couple of surge protectors, but apparently they don't really provide any protection if they aren't plugged into a grounded plug. I can get those adaptors that connect a 3 prong plug to a 2 prong plug but I am worried that I'll be asking for trouble.

Actually now that I recall an issue we had in my old apartment was that if my gf used her hair dryer in the ungrounded plugs it would knock out the power in the bedrooms and we'd have to reset the circuit breaker, while the living room was fine because it had grounded plugs and I guess was on a different circuit or whatever. I won't be using a circuit breaker but I will have all my electronic stuff.

[Pirschjaeger]

I wonder if my light problem is related to the grounds. During my project in my flat I noticed all the lights were ungrounded. I go through a lot of light bulbs. They often go with a loud pop and trip the breakers.

Sometimes they even explode spreading shards of glass everywhere.

Friggin annyoing.

[Airmail109]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Ba5tard5word:
I have a couple of surge protectors, but apparently they don't really provide any protection if they aren't plugged into a grounded plug. I can get those adaptors that connect a 3 prong plug to a 2 prong plug but I am worried that I'll be asking for trouble.

Actually now that I recall an issue we had in my old apartment was that if my gf used her hair dryer in the ungrounded plugs it would knock out the power in the bedrooms and we'd have to reset the circuit breaker, while the living room was fine because it had grounded plugs and I guess was on a different circuit or whatever. I won't be using a circuit breaker but I will have all my electronic stuff. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

You could do it all yourself. Having said that I doubt it would cost THAT much to have an eletrician run wires to the plugs. You could go halves with your landlord and then you could install the plugs yourself to save money.

[TinyTim]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Ba5tard5word:
I have a couple of surge protectors, but apparently they don't really provide any protection if they aren't plugged into a grounded plug. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Really? I'd be very surprised if so. They might suffer irreparable damage when for example lighting strikes (instead of surviving when grounded due to relaxation of surplus charge into the ground), but they simply shouldn't let the voltage rise above tolerated level no matter what.

Still better to fry a surge protector than anything else.

[Cajun76]

FWIW, I used 3 to 2 prong adapters and surge protectors for 3 years in Japan without problems.

However, to be safe, it's best to convert to actual 3 prong with a real ground.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Ele...-2-prong-outlets.htm

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_...a_three-prong_outlet

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Whatever you do...

Don't ever just tie neutral to the ground pin. This is dangerous as you want your ground wire to always be ground, even in fault conditions. While it is true the neutral bus should be grounded at the panel, if you tie neutral to ground at the outlet and the neutral feed wire breaks open the ground will go live. This means the fixture and chassis of whatever is plugged into it will be electrically live. You don't want this! This is the reason new wiring is 3 wire instead of two. Either replace the feed wire or run a dedicated ground. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

[Pirschjaeger]

Good info Cajun but this, from the second link, gave me a good laugh:

Without the good ground changing a two prong plug two a three prong is just masturbatory: it makes you feel better but does no real good, and many think it is dangerous.



BTW, I while living in Egypt I noticed in most of the buildings the electrical was on the outside of the walls in conduits rather than hidden in the walls. I've also heard this is typical in Holland. Ok, I admit it is a bit on the ugly side but at the same time I think it is much more practical.

I plan to build a house in the future and am interested in a few different architectures but one thing I want, regardless of the architecture, is is to have all the electrical and plumbing exposed but in channels.

Has anyone seen anything like this that is pleasant enough to the eye?

[DrHerb]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Pirschjaeger:
I wonder if my light problem is related to the grounds. During my project in my flat I noticed all the lights were ungrounded. I go through a lot of light bulbs. They often go with a loud pop and trip the breakers.

Sometimes they even explode spreading shards of glass everywhere.

Friggin annyoing. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Dunno if this will help Pirsch...

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/145039