Moving to Old House with Old Plugs. Options?

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c.m.n.

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I am moving into an older style house tomorrow. Half of the electrical system (plug-ins) have been updated to newer 3-prong, grounded outlets, but half of the house is still the old style 2-prong outlets. The living room and dining room have the 2-prong outlets and it's in these room where we'll be putting our electronics.

We have desktop computers that will go in the dining room, so I'm weighing my options. They are:

1. Use "cheater plugs". I'll plug in surge protectors, which the computer itself will be plugged into. However, I know the "cheater plugs" aren't actually grounded and our PC's could still fry during a power surge, hence the name "cheater plug". They're also a fire risk.

2. Run an extension cord from the kitchen (which has new style outlets), and plug in our surge protectors to it. However, this would also be problematic as it introduces different hazards: fire risks, trip hazards, etc.

So which option would be the best route?

We don't have a lot of power outages in my city unless it's storm season, which we're pretty much over.

I don't know the owner of the house personally, I am renting through an agency, so asking to replace the old 2-prong style outlets is out of the question for now. Still, I'm not sure why they didn't just update the whole house. :rant:
 
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Al X.

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If you are that concerned, it is a fairly simple task to retrofit your affected outlets to three prong. The only difference is that there is a separate ground to the device/appliance but the ground is still bonded to neutral. Most plug in devices comply with neutral grounding anyway. The only functional reason for a three prong outlet is to ensure that the plug is inserted in the right direction so the neutrals match. Hence, the reason for the odd slot sizes on two prong outlets.
 

MaeZe

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Your surge protectors have a breaker if you are going to use the ungrounded plugs.

Also, don't assume those three-prongers actually go to a ground. You'd need to unscrew the outlet cover and look if there actually are three wires going somewhere.

I put ground fault interrupt plugs in my house. It grounds the plug without having to rely on the fuse box to blow.
 
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MaeZe

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If you are that concerned, it is a fairly simple task to retrofit your affected outlets to three prong. The only difference is that there is a separate ground to the device/appliance but the ground is still bonded to neutral. Most plug in devices comply with neutral grounding anyway. The only functional reason for a three prong outlet is to ensure that the plug is inserted in the right direction so the neutrals match. Hence, the reason for the odd slot sizes on two prong outlets.

Er...umm, maybe you know something I don't? The point of three pronged plugs is one wire goes to ground. If there is an overload, and the fuse doesn't blow, the overload goes into the ground instead of burning up everything plugged into it. Usually they are grounded to plumbing or some other suitable conductor.

https://www.wikihow.com/Ground-an-Outlet
 

Al X.

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Er...umm, maybe you know something I don't? The point of three pronged plugs is one wire goes to ground. If there is an overload, and the fuse doesn't blow, the overload goes into the ground instead of burning up everything plugged into it. Usually they are grounded to plumbing or some other suitable conductor.

https://www.wikihow.com/Ground-an-Outlet

Right, but, in a two prong plug, ground and neutral are connected. And they are still connected in a three prong setup. Or should be, anyway.
 

cbenoi1

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You can still have grounded outlets but it doesn't mean it's a 3-wire going all the way to the box. You can have a bad surprise right there. Also, old houses tend to have aluminium wiring instead of copper, so plugging in anything that draws hefty current (like a computer with a 800W+ power supply) is a recipe for disaster.

You'd need to talk to an electrician to verify the state of your house and know exactly which plug has what and discuss options.

-cb
 
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PorterStarrByrd

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Er...umm, maybe you know something I don't? The point of three pronged plugs is one wire goes to ground. If there is an overload, and the fuse doesn't blow, the overload goes into the ground instead of burning up everything plugged into it. Usually they are grounded to plumbing or some other suitable conductor.

https://www.wikihow.com/Ground-an-Outlet


You are coorect. For three pronged plugs you need to pull new wiring. However until the 50's give or take a decade or two. or so all houses were devoid of three pronged outlets. Living in a house fast approaching 200 years old, I'm familiar with your situation. Outside of looks, the three prong to two prong adapters are perfectly safe. The safety grounding provides is maginially improved with the third wire but not e real problem if don't want to pull new wires.

You do need to make sure your wiring is up to code and, if you have bought the house in at least the past 10 years of so, it had to be up to code before the lender would approve the deal.

If in doubt spend a hundred dollars or so on the electrician. My house inspector assured me we are ok before the sale.

also the only thing likely to need special wiring is your clothes dryer as most of them require a 220v outlet rather than the usual 115V. It does not look like a standard outlet so you needn't worry about plugging in to the wrong type of outlet with anything.
 
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stephenf

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Being in the UK, I can't answer your electrical problems. But......in the Uk landlords are required by law to ensure things like the electrics are safe. comply with present-day standards and prove it by having an electrition check it and issue a certificate. Is this not true in America?
 
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EMaree

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Being in the UK, I can't answer your electrical problems. But......in the Uk landlords are required by law to ensure things like the electrics are safe. comply with present-day standards and prove it by having an electrition check it and issue a certificate. Is this not true in America?

Came here to say similar -- what's your city's laws like regarding electrical safety in rental properties? This is probably something you need to raise with your landlord (keep a paper trail!), because you don't want to invalidate your rental agreement by creating fire hazards in the house.

If you're not comfortable speaking to your landlord, there should be a nonprofit in your city that specialises in free advice for renters and can give you experienced advice.
 

Jason

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In a tenant-landlord situation, yes the landlord is required to keep things up to code. But, if you are buying a house, then it is incumbant on you to ensure your own house is safe. Retrofitting outlets is always an option, but if, as some have suggested, there is aluminum or knob and tube wiring, then the pretty 3-prong outlet in front of it is no arbiter of a safe system.

The only way to know for 100% sure is to expose all the wiring, and possibly re-wire the entire house. Now based on the age of the home, you can usually approximate what was used based on "current code" of the time, but that's still not guarantee.

As always, ymmv, so check locally, and hire a professional to really make a determination on how best to proceed.
 

Jason

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I don't know the owner of the house personally, I am renting through an agency, so asking to replace the old 2-prong style outlets is out of the question for now. Still, I'm not sure why they didn't just update the whole house. :rant:

Sorry, I totally missed this point in the discussion that ensued about landlord obligations to keep things current and to code. This being the case, it sounds like a case where the landlord did the absolute minimum to be code compliant. What that does mean is that they at a minimum likely have wiring that is safe and properly grounded, and as others have said, even a two-pronged outlet can be grounded, but is not ideal.

Your best bet is to consider replacing a few outlets at a time with the 3-pronged ones that can properly ground. If you're handy, this could be as cheap as a $5 fix per outlet, assuming you know how to handle electricity safely. If not, you could also go the route of inquiring to an electrician how much they would charge to swap out outlets for you. In general here in Denver, they charge about $100 - $150/hour and a good electrician could do one outlet per 15 minutes give or take. So, if there's 4 or 5 outlets it could be relatively inexpensive. Maybe ask the agency for a dispensation if you took care of the issues yourself?

Apologies for missing this and thanks to Lisa for the heads up :)
 
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