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dealing with ungrounded outlets
Dec. 6th, 2020 12:40 pmThis house (and the others I've lived in) has grounded 3-prong outlets in the kitchen. But as the house is over 50 years old, most of the other outlets are 2-prong and ungrounded. So when we need to plug in devices with 3-prong plugs, we've had to use 3-to-2-prong adapters.
The adapters stick out an inch or more from the wall, making them easy to bump into accidentally, especially when other bulky plugs are plugged into them. They also tend to be loose in the socket unless you attach them via the outlet's center screw (which is advised even if the screw and box aren't grounded, but then you always have the adapter sticking out from the wall even when nothing is plugged in).
The power cables running through the walls don't include a ground wire, so it's not a simple matter of replacing the 2-prong outlets with 3-prong ones, for be them to also be grounded. Likewise, the metal boxes in the walls usually have only a faint ground connection, if any.
In a few cases, I have run a separate ground wire from the outlet box down to the crawlspace, connecting it to a copper pipe, to provide a stronger ground. I've read that this is now discouraged, as the wire in the crawlspace could become disconnected, or the homeowner could later replace some or all the pipes with non-metal ones, leaving the "ground" wire and the outlet no longer grounded, without it being apparent to the user inside the house.
In a few cases, I've run a wire from the center outlet screw to a nearby HVAC vent in the same room to provide a better ground, while still using the 2-prong adapter.
I've read now that it is advised to replace ungrounded 2-prong outlets with GFCI outlets, which don't provide a ground but protect against users getting shocked in case of an electrical short.
I've also read that if the first outlet in a circuit has the GFCI protection, the other ones connected to it are also protected. And that it's ok to install regular 3-prong outlets for the others as long as they are labelled with the warning GFCI-Protected; No Equipment Ground". You may want to do this as GFCI outlets are much more expensive: currently the cheapest GFCI outlet costs about $13 while an expensive regular 3-prong outlet costs $2.
I've also just discovered that GFCI outlets have a limited lifespan of 15 to 25 years but sometimes shorter. Modern ones have triggers to prevent current flow once the end of life is reached, ie. once the shock protection has been lost. Once that happens, you have to replace the whole outlet, and anything downstream of it on the same circuit (including lights) will stop working until it is replaced.
If you have an older GFCI outlet, as is common in bathrooms, it may have reached its end of life and no longer provide shock protection, though it still provides power. You have to periodically use the Test/Reset buttons to check if it is still providing protection.
Considering all the above, one *might* consider replacing the circuit breaker with a GFCI breaker instead of installing GFCI outlets. If so, you may as well get a breaker with AFCI (arc-fault) protection too, to help protect against electrical fires, as the cost appears to be similar for both ($50 and up). There are outlets which have both GFCI and AFCI protection, but those are even more expensive (currently $30 and up) compared to GFCI-only outlets.
.
Anyway. I'd started out wanting to simply replace a few 2-prong outlets with 3-prong ones, even if they wouldn't be grounded. Then after reading about GFCI outlets, I decided to install GFCI outlets instead. But even that has drawbacks which I wasn't at first aware of.
The adapters stick out an inch or more from the wall, making them easy to bump into accidentally, especially when other bulky plugs are plugged into them. They also tend to be loose in the socket unless you attach them via the outlet's center screw (which is advised even if the screw and box aren't grounded, but then you always have the adapter sticking out from the wall even when nothing is plugged in).
The power cables running through the walls don't include a ground wire, so it's not a simple matter of replacing the 2-prong outlets with 3-prong ones, for be them to also be grounded. Likewise, the metal boxes in the walls usually have only a faint ground connection, if any.
In a few cases, I have run a separate ground wire from the outlet box down to the crawlspace, connecting it to a copper pipe, to provide a stronger ground. I've read that this is now discouraged, as the wire in the crawlspace could become disconnected, or the homeowner could later replace some or all the pipes with non-metal ones, leaving the "ground" wire and the outlet no longer grounded, without it being apparent to the user inside the house.
In a few cases, I've run a wire from the center outlet screw to a nearby HVAC vent in the same room to provide a better ground, while still using the 2-prong adapter.
I've read now that it is advised to replace ungrounded 2-prong outlets with GFCI outlets, which don't provide a ground but protect against users getting shocked in case of an electrical short.
I've also read that if the first outlet in a circuit has the GFCI protection, the other ones connected to it are also protected. And that it's ok to install regular 3-prong outlets for the others as long as they are labelled with the warning GFCI-Protected; No Equipment Ground". You may want to do this as GFCI outlets are much more expensive: currently the cheapest GFCI outlet costs about $13 while an expensive regular 3-prong outlet costs $2.
I've also just discovered that GFCI outlets have a limited lifespan of 15 to 25 years but sometimes shorter. Modern ones have triggers to prevent current flow once the end of life is reached, ie. once the shock protection has been lost. Once that happens, you have to replace the whole outlet, and anything downstream of it on the same circuit (including lights) will stop working until it is replaced.
If you have an older GFCI outlet, as is common in bathrooms, it may have reached its end of life and no longer provide shock protection, though it still provides power. You have to periodically use the Test/Reset buttons to check if it is still providing protection.
Considering all the above, one *might* consider replacing the circuit breaker with a GFCI breaker instead of installing GFCI outlets. If so, you may as well get a breaker with AFCI (arc-fault) protection too, to help protect against electrical fires, as the cost appears to be similar for both ($50 and up). There are outlets which have both GFCI and AFCI protection, but those are even more expensive (currently $30 and up) compared to GFCI-only outlets.
.
Anyway. I'd started out wanting to simply replace a few 2-prong outlets with 3-prong ones, even if they wouldn't be grounded. Then after reading about GFCI outlets, I decided to install GFCI outlets instead. But even that has drawbacks which I wasn't at first aware of.