Two-pronged power strip: Exist?

[johnjohn320]

That is, the jack that goes into the wall is two-pronged, but the outlets on the strip itself are still 3 pronged. My apartment's kinda old and only has a two pronged outlet. Ideas?

 

[Kaervak]

Originally posted by: johnjohn320
Ideas?

click No assholeness intended.

 

[Brutuskend]

3 Prong + dikes = 2 prong

 

[johnjohn320]

Originally posted by: Kaervak

Originally posted by: johnjohn320
Ideas?

click No assholeness intended.

Didn't think you were being an asshole, unless I missed something. American Allergy Supply? Ha, no wonder I didn't find that. Anyway, thanks, I didn't know those existed.

 

[Kaervak]

Originally posted by: johnjohn320

Originally posted by: Kaervak

Originally posted by: johnjohn320
Ideas?

click No assholeness intended.

Didn't think you were being an asshole, unless I missed something. American Allergy Supply? Ha, no wonder I didn't find that. Anyway, thanks, I didn't know those existed.

Some people might think you're being a jerk with a one word reply. Anyway, you can get two to three prong adapters just about anywhere, rather cheaply too. Just be sure to unscrew the screw from the wallplate, plug in the adapter and rescrew the screw over that little metal tab that sticks out. Ghetto grounding FTW!

 

[swtethan]

home depot has orange adapters, just ask the employees

 

[Eeezee]

I'm no electrician, but aren't there certain risks you take by not grounding your electronics?

 

[Brutuskend]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
I'm no electrician, but aren't there certain risks you take by not grounding your electronics?

To some extent. But see that little loop looking thing on the adapter? You take the screw out of the face plate of the power receptacle, put it through that little loop thingy and screw it back in and THAT grounds the adapter.

 

[AlienCraft]

Originally posted by: Brutuskend

Originally posted by: Eeezee
I'm no electrician, but aren't there certain risks you take by not grounding your electronics?

To some extent. But see that little loop looking thing on the adapter? You take the screw out of the face plate of the power receptacle, put it through that little loop thingy and screw it back in and THAT grounds the adapter.

Not necessarily.

The grounding wire that SHOULD"VE been installed may not have made it, or have been broken. Often it was a single strand of 18 ga attached to the cold water pipe and then to the outlet BOX. If the box is phenolic, or early plastic, there will not be any place for a grounding conducter attachment.

 

[Brutuskend]

Originally posted by: AlienCraft

Originally posted by: Brutuskend

Originally posted by: Eeezee
I'm no electrician, but aren't there certain risks you take by not grounding your electronics?

To some extent. But see that little loop looking thing on the adapter? You take the screw out of the face plate of the power receptacle, put it through that little loop thingy and screw it back in and THAT grounds the adapter.

Not necessarily.

The grounding wire that SHOULD"VE been installed may not have made it, or have been broken. Often it was a single strand of 18 ga attached to the cold water pipe and then to the outlet BOX. If the box is phenolic, or early plastic, there will not be any place for a grounding conducter attachment.

true

 

[johnjohn320]

Well, I bought this from Radio Shack today. The guy told me I didn't need to take the faceplate off, so I didn't. It seems to be working.

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: johnjohn320
Well, I bought this from Radio Shack today. The guy told me I didn't need to take the faceplate off, so I didn't. It seems to be working.

To make those kind work properly, you remove the screw that holds on the cover plate, and use that screw thru the loop on the adapter. HOWEVER, as noted elsewhere in this thread, IF the existing box wasn't grounded when it was installed, then it won't make any difference...

 

[DrPizza]

If you're going to remove the screw that holds on the cover plate, then I'm assuming you can operate a screw driver. If that's the case, then hopefully, you can operate a circuit breaker. Turn off power to that outlet, and replace the outlet. Oddly, a "normal" outlet is going to be cheaper than that adapter. Replacing the outlet is about a 2 minute job, including turning the power off and back on. Hot (black) wire goes to the gold colored screw, white wire goes to the silvery colored screw (to have the correct polarity, if your wires are connected correctly at the box) And, the little green hexagonal screw is for the ground wire. If there isn't a ground wire in the box (generally bare copper wire, or rarely, green covered) then connecting the little tab on the adapter to the screw wouldn't have mattered anyway.

To meet code, technically you're supposed to use wire nuts, and pigtails. That really doesn't affect the safety of your connection though.

 

[johnjohn320]

Originally posted by: BoomerD

Originally posted by: johnjohn320
Well, I bought this from Radio Shack today. The guy told me I didn't need to take the faceplate off, so I didn't. It seems to be working.

To make those kind work properly, you remove the screw that holds on the cover plate, and use that screw thru the loop on the adapter. HOWEVER, as noted elsewhere in this thread, IF the existing box wasn't grounded when it was installed, then it won't make any difference...

THe problem I have is that the screw for the faceplate doesnt fit both through that loop and into the hold in the wall it's supposed to go into while the thing is plugged in.

PS-Maybe I'm retarded (sorry if I am). I've never had my own place before, so I've never had to think about this crap.

 

[Fritzo]

You could also replace the outlet for like .99 I did it in my mother in law's house.

 

[daniel49]

wow 3 1/2 bucks for an adapter.

Our first house was real old and had only 2 prong
I've used adapter with them a million times and never bothered grounding them so either I am very lucky or it didn't seem to matter that much?

I like pizza's idea an outlet isn't that hard but then again if your renting maybe you don't want to do that?

 

[johnjohn320]

Originally posted by: daniel49
wow 3 1/2 bucks for an adapter.

Our first house was real old and had only 2 prong
I've used adapter with them a million times and never bothered grounding them so either I am very lucky or it didn't seem to matter that much?

I like pizza's idea an outlet isn't that hard but then again if your renting maybe you don't want to do that?

It's 3.50 for two of them, 1.75 for one. And yes, I'm renting.

 

[doze]

If you have a PC and your on the bottom floor then you may want to look into setting up 1 grounded outlet. Even if you have to bury your own rod it will only cost a few $$$ and is pretty easy to do. Otherwise unplug everything electronic whenever you leave the house.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: Brutuskend

Originally posted by: Eeezee
I'm no electrician, but aren't there certain risks you take by not grounding your electronics?

To some extent. But see that little loop looking thing on the adapter? You take the screw out of the face plate of the power receptacle, put it through that little loop thingy and screw it back in and THAT grounds the adapter.

...except that most places lazy enough to not install grounded outlets in the first place might not have grounded the box properly either.

Originally posted by: DrPizza
If you're going to remove the screw that holds on the cover plate, then I'm assuming you can operate a screw driver. If that's the case, then hopefully, you can operate a circuit breaker. Turn off power to that outlet, and replace the outlet. Oddly, a "normal" outlet is going to be cheaper than that adapter. Replacing the outlet is about a 2 minute job, including turning the power off and back on. Hot (black) wire goes to the gold colored screw, white wire goes to the silvery colored screw (to have the correct polarity, if your wires are connected correctly at the box) And, the little green hexagonal screw is for the ground wire. If there isn't a ground wire in the box (generally bare copper wire, or rarely, green covered) then connecting the little tab on the adapter to the screw wouldn't have mattered anyway.

Again, any place lazy enough to not install grounded outlets in the first place probably wouldn't be industrious enough to run a ground cable.

 

[DrPizza]

I've seen plenty of places where some idiot ran 14/2 with ground, but used older 2 prong outlets. Unfortunately, in the majority of cases, the idiot cut the ground wire off as short as possible, such that it was useless.

 

[Martin]

Buy a regular one and cut off the prong... like I did.