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How do I turn a 2 prong oulet into a 3 prong?

A

Antoneo

Diamond Member
Ok I have been using a surge protector without the ground (surgically removed yeah, bad idea) because the power outlet has only two openings for two prongs and no ground. Nothing has happened yet to the stuff connected to it (tv, vcr, receiver) but I do not want to risk it further. From my understanding the ground prong is there to protect me from shock and without it the surge protector would still function. Correct me if I'm wrong... Another surge protector somewhere in the house has an adapter (3 prong to 2 prong) and I doubt that is doing any better.

What I would like to know is if I can turn that 2 prong power outlet into a 3 prong one by buying stuff from Home Depot without killing myself. Anyone tried this before?
 
Yea, Home Depot should sell them. I have some myself. I'm not sure if it still serves it purpose though. It might just let you plug 3 prong connections into 2 prongs. *shrugs*
 
try some amateur handyman work and change the outlets yourself

I dont know where to hook up the grounding wire though..
 
If worse comes to worse and you cannot run new wire, just replace the outlet with a grounded outlet and attach a wire from the green ground screw to the neutral screw so there is at least a path there.
 
If it's not too much trouble, it can be easy. I'm no electrician, so check my ideas, but I'm pretty sure this is what you do.

Replace the 2 prong outlet with a 3 prong outlet. Connect the two wires (black/white usually) as they were previously. Then run the third wire from the green screw and just attach it to the metal casing of your circuit breaker box. This wire can be bare copper if you want. Done.
 
Best solution is to run new wire.

I'm not sure about the functioning of the surge suppressor, but one "allowed by code" way to do this with a normal circuit is to install a GFI plug.


Without a doubt the best place to get all your home improvement questions, answered is the alt.home.repair newsgroup
 
You don't say how old the house is, so let's start at the beginning. Turn off the breaker going to the outlet. Remove the cover and loosen the 2 screws holding the outlet. Actually take them completely out. Pull out the outlet and see if you have a ground wire in the box. It is a copper wire without any insulation on it. If the box is metal, the ground wire may be connected to the box. If you have a ground wire, you can install a 3 prong outlet. The ground wire goes on a green screw on the new outlet. If you don't have a ground wire, a 3 prong outlet or even an adaptor doesn't do anything more than you did when you removed the third prong. You shoud be able to do it.
 
well turn the breaker off, open up the socket, see if there is a copper grounding wire...and if so, run down to home depot get urself a 3prong plug socket thingamabob and install it...if the breaker is off u wont kill urself....and if u mess up then the breaker will just shut off itself 🙂
 


<< You don't say how old the house is, so let's start at the beginning. Turn off the breaker going to the outlet. Remove the cover and loosen the 2 screws holding the outlet. Actually take them completely out. Pull out the outlet and see if you have a ground wire in the box. It is a copper wire without any insulation on it. If the box is metal, the ground wire may be connected to the box. If you have a ground wire, you can install a 3 prong outlet. The ground wire goes on a green screw on the new outlet. If you don't have a ground wire, a 3 prong outlet or even an adaptor doesn't do anything more than you did when you removed the third prong. You shoud be able to do it. >>



grr what he said. ^
 
Its really easy to change the outlets like amdskip said, it should only take a few mins for each outlet. Just be sure to turn the power off for the room's outlets at the breaker, and if you don't know what breakers are for the outlets just be safe and throw the main breaker. 🙂
 
thanks for the replies guys


<< If you don't have a ground wire, a 3 prong outlet or even an adaptor doesn't do anything more than you did when you removed the third prong. You shoud be able to do it. >>

So if there is no ground wire, uh the only choice I have is to run new wire right? Oh and the house is about 60 years old.
 


<< and if you don't know what breakers are for the outlets just be safe and throw the main breaker. >>

Easy way to find out which breaker controls an outlet. Plug a vacuum cleaner (or loud radio) into the outlet in question, go to breaker box and turn off breakers one by one until the noise stops.

If the house is 60 years old, I would be surprised if it has a ground wire.
 
Surge protection does *NOT* work without a ground!

REPEAT!

Your surge suppressor is doing NOTHING without a ground! Cheap suppressors use MOV's between each conductor and ground, but not across the line! No ground, no discharge point! Also, if your fixture is defective and the hot lead comes in contact with a conductive chassis, you could get the new look (stiff) if you're touching something grounded and make contact [with the chassis] at the same time!

Replace the outlet with a three prong receptacle!!!



<< Easy way to find out which breaker controls an outlet. Plug a vacuum cleaner (or loud radio) into the outlet in question, go to breaker box and turn off breakers one by one until the noise stops. >>



Most overclockers could do this with their computer too! :Q

Cheers!
 
If the house is 60 years old, there will almost certainly not be a ground wire to the outlet box. What you will have to do is to run a wire from the metal outlet box to a galvanized water pipe (cold). This will give you a ground, unless there has been piples replaced with PVC due to freezing. Better yet, drive a grounding steak into the ground right outside the room and run a wire from the metal box to this steak, and then ground the new 3-prong outlet to the box.

Grounding means just that, a connection to the ground (unless it is an artificial ground, like the negative ground in an automobile).

Unless you ground the third prong, it will do nothing.

John
 
<curmudgeon mode>Bah, just keep on using it as it currently is. Things worked just fine for a long time without ground wires. What are the chances you'll need the ground wire anyway?</curmudgeon mode>

Seriously though, Ornery has the best way (IMO) to do it "properly".

ZV
 
I have never seen a system where the boxes were grounded and the plugs weren't(I'm sure they exist out there somewhere), so those of you suggesting to just change the plug to a three prong outlet are setting up Mr. MistaEng to use devises that need to be grounded to be safe without any grounding. THIS IS BAD.

Like Ornery said GFCI is allowed under National Electric Code, however I have no idea how a Surge Suppressor functions so I'm not sure that the Suppressor will still function as it should, but it will be safe.

 
A GFCI will function without a ground and provide protection in the event of a missing ground, (hence the name ground fault circuit interrupter) however the VSP function of your spike suppressor will not work.

Remember, a surge suppressor is *not* a lightning arrestor but a device to limit daily recurring spikes from surrounding appliances. These spikes rarely if ever affect equipment in most cases. It's the cummulative factor that leads to reduced lifetimes.

Cheers!
 
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