2-Pack GE Polarized Grounding Adaptor

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01-12-2021 at 02:01 PM #121

Quote from edeal_finder

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Ground is used to protect people and other equipment in the event a device has a fault. The idea is the ground is a low impedance drain path that is more preferable for the electrons to go than, say, through your body.

The idea with ground, is if you have wires inside the device break off, the ground creates a forcible short circuit, and overloads the fuse or circuit breaker in your house, causing it to trip offline. The breaker trip protects you, the human, it also may protect the equipment. If a GFCI is used, the trip happens even faster.

https://electronics.howstuffworks...ion110.htm

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01-12-2021 at 02:12 PM #122

Quote from rangerwuff

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Someone downvoted me for GFCI suggestion above but it is actually code to use them without grounding. You are fully and legally allowed to use GFCI outlets anywhere without grounding provided you label them "no equipment ground" and you can plug in 3 prong outlets.

This is a far safer method of using a non grounded outlet then these cheater adapters which can get you killed.

https://www.electricallicenserene...onID=306.0

THANK YOU!!
Didn't know GFCI outlet stull protect you without ground.
Ground Fault Circuit Interrupt sounds "ground can not be in Fault!!!"

Thanks!!

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01-12-2021 at 02:15 PM #123

Quote from edeal_finder

:

Ground is used to protect people and other equipment in the event a device has a fault. The idea is the ground is a low impedance drain path that is more preferable for the electrons to go than, say, through your body.

The idea with ground, is if you have wires inside the device break off, the ground creates a forcible short circuit, and overloads the fuse or circuit breaker in your house, causing it to trip offline. The breaker trip protects you, the human, it also may protect the equipment. If a GFCI is used, the trip happens even faster.

Nothing in what I wrote about the toaster contradicts this. The issue with a metal cased toaster is the open element and the ability for the "human" to become the path between the toaster element and the metal case, which, if grounded, could increase the likelihood of a strong shock. Google this and you can find more about it.

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01-12-2021 at 02:18 PM #124

Quote :

I've never had an inspector find anything meaningful.

When the real estate agent slips them something not to kill the deal....they tend to find almost nothing.

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01-12-2021 at 02:23 PM #125

Quote from swichers

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Fires are not the only potential issue. Electrical shocks are another. So is premature failure of devices plugged into these outlets. Seems like spending the extra $10 for the real fix is the smarter move. Especially since that will work with anything you plug in, instead of needing to deal with moving an adapter around.

I think I'd have a better chance of getting in a bad accident without a gd seltbelt- which I always wear. I moved some stuff to the actual three pronged outlet in my garage and unplugged what is not being used.

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01-12-2021 at 02:25 PM #126

Quote from fyu

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not to be too pedantic, but power strips just add extra outlet space.

I think you're talking about surge protectors. I believe they send any surge or spikes to ground via the ground wire. So if there isn't any then it doesn't do anything.
The surge protectors I have even have a light that shows whether the ground is detected.

Oops. Yeah, surge protectors.

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01-12-2021 at 02:46 PM #127

Quote from mttfriend

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THANK YOU!!
Didn't know GFCI outlet stull protect you without ground.
Ground Fault Circuit Interrupt sounds "ground can not be in Fault!!!"

Thanks!!

Just make sure you attach the appropriate sticker to the outlet (it'll come with your gfci.)

Does the sticker change anything? Of course not, but most codes do require you to note a gfci that isn't grounded.

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01-12-2021 at 03:14 PM #128

Quote from fyu

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Yea, it doesn't make sense.

It looks like it's grounding to your outlet box, but if your outlet box is grounded, why not change out the outlets?

This is a common need item for many in-city older homes built or remodeled before the 70's. Both my grandparents had outlets that were put in place sometime between the 30's and 50's and no ground plugs were present. The wiring was cloth insulated with metal conduit and boxes carrying the ground back to the panel (which had screwed in fuses). When they started getting polarized plug devices in the 80's, these started popping up all over.

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01-12-2021 at 03:19 PM #129

Quote from 1jzgte

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Can I put my tongue on it?

You can put your tongue on anything

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01-12-2021 at 04:10 PM #130

Quote from Redmont

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A lot of urban apartments built pre-WW II (or shortly after WW II ) do not have grounded plugs . A lot of extension cords for whatever reason do not have a grounded outlet and while I would not use these for that reason for any extended time — if you are sitting there while you are using one of these then I do not think it is dangerous for a short time especially since modern circuit breakers are likely to prevent any serious issues

Firstly, if you're installing suicide adaptors it's likely you don't have modern circuit breakers.
Secondly, a thermal magnetic 'modern circuit breaker' isn't even going to yawn at a the couple of hundred milli amps that it'll take to kill a person if they become the current return path to ground.

You may as well take off your seat belt because I bet that's never saved your life yet either.

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01-13-2021 at 07:36 AM #131

Quote from theman2

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A prior owner of my house installed three 3 prong outlets in some rooms without bothering to ground them. Perhaps I can add these to double the non-grounding!

If the wiring has metal conduit, then you can use that as a ground. I am assuming that the other end of the conduit is grounded. That's what I did on my house. All the original 1950 wiring is armored cable.

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01-13-2021 at 07:44 AM #132

I only use these on two occasions:

1. When I want to plug a three prong item into a two prong extension cord.
2. When I want to plug a three prong item into a standalone switch. For some reason all of mine are ungrounded. I use a lot of these switches because so many things now don't have real power switches.

I'm specifically referring to switches like these:
https://www.amazon.com/Grounded-O...07RBPRG1R/
Except mine don't have three prongs on them.

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01-13-2021 at 02:39 PM #133

thanks.. excellent price

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01-14-2021 at 10:36 PM #134

Quote from person749

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Grounding only works if the device itself is grounded (has a 3 prong plug). My tv does not.

GFCI outlets work even if your TV does not have an equipment ground! They work by detecting stray current that doesn't come back on the neutral. So if some of the current finds a new path through your body, it will trigger the GFCI outlet and save your life.

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01-14-2021 at 10:39 PM #135

Quote from randob3001

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Just make sure you attach the appropriate sticker to the outlet (it'll come with your gfci.)

Does the sticker change anything? Of course not, but most codes do require you to note a gfci that isn't grounded.

The sticker indicates you shouldn't install any large, permanent, metal appliances to the outlet.

Quote from zzyzzx

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If the wiring has metal conduit, then you can use that as a ground. I am assuming that the other end of the conduit is grounded. That's what I did on my house. All the original 1950 wiring is armored cable.

You can only use metal conduit as a ground if it's connected somewhere to the ground. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. You can test with a multimeter to see.

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