No ground plug. How dangerious is it to the UPS?

[Windogg]

My girlfriend's new place is an older building and only a few outlets have a ground plug. The closest one would require about 30 feet of extension cord snaking around the apartment to reach. I got her a nice UPS which will be plugged into a three to two prong adapter but I know that the site wiring fault LED will light up like a christmas tree. My question is how bad is this? The system will have pretty much no ground at all.

If this is a bad idea, anyone know of a Home Depot that sells "fuscia" or "rose petal" colored extension cords?

Windogg

 

[TunaBoo]

Um not too good of an idea. I am sure it will WORK. But if there is some problem like a surge - I have no idea what would happen.

 

[miken]

I believe the grounds are there for fire protection. Most equipment will work however. Good Luck!

 

[Phoenix]

Try looking for a 3 prong adapter that has a little metal clip that you can attach to the screw on the outlet, that should be acceptable as a ground for OLDER outlets that do not have the 3 pronged plug.


-phoenix-

 

[Windogg]

Hmmmm...... the plug does have the clip. Still, I am getting a bad feeling about this. Anyone else?

Crap, why did I major in accounting and law instead of EE? Oh yea, because I suck at anything beyond simple math.

Windogg

 

[MichaelD]

All the equipment will most probably work, but your surge/over/under voltage will be seriously comprimised. The whole point of a grounded outlet is to provide an earthed connection. There's a very good possbility that the surge protection will not work properly. Check this out.

 

[Windogg]

Thanks MichaelD,

Hmmm.... I am pretty sure APC is making things more serious than they really are but there are still some considerations.

I will try phoenix's suggestion of screwing it down to the center screw to see what happens.

Thanks everyone.

Windogg

 

[MichaelD]

You're welcome.

I kinda missed the part in your original post saying you'd need a 30-foot extension cord to reach a grounded outlet. Do it. Go to Home Depot (or equivalent) and get a 50-foot, 8 or 10 gauge grounded extension cord and plug the UPS into that. Make sure to get 8 or10 gauge, not the cheaper 14-gauge. It won't be cheap. Prolly around $30-$40 but worth every penny. Problem solved1

 

[Aureius]

If you have any knowledge of electrical wiring, go to the store and buy a three prong socket. Only a couple of bucks. Kill the power, White wires to the silver screws, black wires to the gold screws, and bare copper wires to the grounds, usually on the back.

IF YOU HAVE ANY RESERVATIONS DON"T DO IT.

You could also buy one and have the maintainence man install it for like 10 bucks.

-Andy