AC without Ground

[JLBShock]

I live in old house, it was built in 1950 and there's no ground around the house especially at circuitbox.. Can guys tell me how to add ground wire to outlet without ripping all wires out of wall (which outlets and wires are pretty new, but ground wire don't have the connection yet)

Thanks

 

[dknguyen]

Maybe get an electrician to do it?

 

[HarveyH42]

My house was built in 1946, same problem with outlets, except no ground wires.

Your fuse/breaker box should be grounded, or its seriously not up to code.

My walls are concrete block, so the electrical is in metal conduit, which is grounded to the circuit box. I went through and changed all the two prong outlets with three prong, wired the ground terminal to the outlet box. I did run wire for one outlet for my computer, but wanted it on a seperate breaker.

Also did my own 220 for my clothes dryer (did some guessing on that one, got lucky).

Old houses are great, just the electrical and plumbing need some work.

 

[mpj111]

check your main switch board. neutral and earth bar has been linked together, if you are not using a RCD.
If you have a earth bar run a ground wire from the bar and ground it out side the house.

 

[stevez]

Sometimes an experienced electrician can install the proper wiring with tools and tricks that he/she uses all the time. Sometimes surface mounting or other less damaging approaches can be used.

I'd encourage you to do the upgrades necessary for a safe system. Enlist the service of someone skilled in that area. Maybe they can work out a plan in steps - possibly covering the high risk areas like kitchen and bathroom.

 

[Dean Huster]

It's extremely expensive to rewire a house, as you well know. Even if you do the work yourself, it's a tremendous amount of work involving hot attics and wet, filthy crawl spaces. I don't worry about older 2-wire ungrounded houses I work on with the exception of kitchens and bathrooms where I replace all the outlets with GFCI-protected outlets, each marked with the accessory lables "NO GROUND AVAILABLE". Prefectly "legal" and adds protection that no grounded outlet can ever add.

Most times, you don't have to worry about meeting "code" if you're living in the house and don't mess with the wiring. Screw around with one thing, and (in theory) you have to redo all of it. So, what "they" don't know won't hurt them. The biggest hassle comes if you sell the home (or put on an addition or redo a room) and the electric police come by to check things out.

Dean

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I don't worry about older 2-wire ungrounded houses I work on with the exception of kitchens and bathrooms where I replace all the outlets with GFCI-protected outlets, each marked with the accessory lables "NO GROUND AVAILABLE". Prefectly "legal" and adds protection that no grounded outlet can ever add.

Don't GFCI outpets require a ground connection in order to function?.

BTW, in the UK it's illegal to have mains sockets in a bathroom - with the exception of two pin shaver sockets, which are fully isolated with a mains transformer.

 

[Dean Huster]

A GFCI does not require a ground to operate but has ground available. The GFCI senses an inbalance in current between the hot and neutral wires of an appliance. It'll disconnect mains power to the appliance with as little as 3mA in less than a cycle -- so quick that you can trip it by touching the hot wire and never know a current was flowing through you -- not to say that I'd recommend that as a test, of course!

In the U.S. for all new construction, 3-wire, ground outlets are mandatory everywhere and in addition, GFCI-protected outlets are mandatory in kitchens, bathrooms, outdoors ... and now I believe they've started including basements and garages. In general, if you can easily touch a grounded item (earth, sink, faucet, etc.) any outlet has to be GFCI-protected. The one spot where it's not required, which really confuses me, is in a utility room where you have all sorts of grounds available with electrical panels, plumbing, clothes washer and dryer, freezer, etc. In fact, in this country, the National Electrical Code demands that in mobile homes (or modular homes as they're wanting to call them now) 240V kitchen ranges and a clothes dryers are required to have 4-wire connectors: hot, hot, neutral, ground; however, in "stick built" (wooden, brick, etc.) homes, they are only required to have 3-wire (no ground) connectors, which I find to be totally unacceptable.

Dean

 

[oldtimer]

It always amazzes me why there are'nt more fires in the USA with their arcaic house wiring. Two different voltage outlets 110-20V for lights and outlets all connected together and 23oV for the cooker and washing dryer machine. Often the wiring is alumunium which causes arcing when the connections come loose. The electricity is supplied on a pole or two which are invariably rotten or not stayed and a hurricane comes along and most of Florida has lost its power. I tell you it's 19th century technoligy.