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Subject Author Date
Ungrounded Electrical outlets Jeff Sapocinik 12-21-2006
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Posted by Pop` on December 23, 2006, 2:13 pm


Eric in North TX wrote:
> Personally I tire of hearing about ungrounded outlets. Reality check;
> my bet is that well over half of the dwellings in the U.S. have
> ungrounded outlets, and people have lived long full lives in them.
> I'll also bet that your chances of actually having a fatal or even
> debilitating shock are up there with winning the lottery and getting
> struck by lightning. This is all just hype, part of the lowest common
> denominator, lets idiot proof everything thing. I say lets thin out
> the gene pool, why let idiots live to reproduce more idiots.

You're right! But, won't there be ANYONE who will miss you when you're
gone? Poor tadpole!

Pop`



Posted by Gary KW4Z on December 24, 2006, 4:43 am


Your main concern here I would say should be the size air conditioner you
are planning on plugging in and the other loads on the circuit that your air
conditioner will be on the line with. Chances are that the circuit will be
confined to your apartment and not shared with another so you should have
control over what is on at the same time. That said the circuit is most
likely 15 Amp however you might check to see for sure and don't use so large
an air conditioner that it will tax your wiring.

As far as grounding is concerned many older homes lack good grounding and it
hasn't caused a problem. The GFCI outlet is a good idea also as the GFCI
monitors the current on the Hot and Neutral lines and if there is an
imbalance in the current between the two wires (Hot & Neutral) as small as 4
to 5 milliamps imbalance then it trips the circuit. This protects you if
there is a shock situation where part of the return current seeks to pass
through your body back. What is dangerous is when you have someone that
doesn't know about electricity wire from outlet to outlet and reverse wires
in the process. When one outlet is wired with Hot and Neutral reversed to
the next outlet setting up an electrocution potential if say you touched a
lamp while touching the Air Conditioner at the same time. In circuits that
are grounded the Neutral and Ground are tied together at the Breaker Box and
therefore are at the same potential, for 110 or 115 VAC circuits. If a
three prong outlet is wired correctly and you take a voltmeter you should
read no voltage from the ground hole (round hole) to the Neutral hole which
is the longer or larger of the two vertical slots. The smaller vertical
slot or shorter slot in the plug should be tied to the Hot wire and from
either neutral (longer vertical slot) to shorter slot (Hot) you should read
your 110 Volts or from the Ground Lug (round hole) to the shorter vertical
slot the same 110 Volts... That is when you have a properly grounded plug.


On 12/21/06 5:52 PM, in article
1166741546.831768.142310@f1g2000cwa.googlegroups.com, "Jeff Sapocinik"

> I live in an old lowrise apartment that doesn't have any
> proper electrical grounding, although several outlets are 3 pronged. I
> want to use an air conditioner in the summer, but I'm concerned about
> the potential safety hazard.
>


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