No ground

[unrealii]

My house was built in the 50/60's, so it originally had 2 prong outlets. Four years ago, I rewired all the outlets in my room to the three prong (I even had to extend the ground wire from the feed wire since the idiots cut it off). Now I pluged in a surge protector and it is giving me a building wiring fault. I am assuming that the grounds are not wired in the electrical box. Is this something I could do, so should I pay someone to do it? I have had this setup for at least 10 years, and no problems so far (knock on wood).

I have 2 computers, 2 lcds, 2 printers, 5.1 stereo, and some other electronics, ideally, I'd a dedicated electical feed with breaker. Has anyone ever had one installed?

 

[tech-home]

If you rewired some things already you could prob do this by educating yourself on grounding. Here is a great site where I've learned alot. I just replaced my breaker panel roughly 3 months ago. Most electricans wanted around $1000.00 to do this, it took me 5 1/2 hours and less then $200.00.
Wish I got paid this much.

http://www.selfhelpandmore.com/homewiringu...etershow.htm#16

Check out the forums



BrianD

 

[electron]

That's a really great resource, wish the text was a little easier to read tho.

 

[Guy Lavoie]

You should definitely open up the breaker panel and look to see if the ground wires are going to the grounding bar (and seperate from the neutral bar). But this sounds strange: having two prong outlets but 2 conductor plus ground wiring...? Is this really the type of wire that you have?

 

[unrealii]

Hey, I never got around to doing this. It seems like too much work. However, I may be moving to a different room in the house which had grounds. But I think its on the same breaker as the pool pump. Is that bad? Anyone know how much I can expect to pay to add another breaker (will be shared with the living room too)? That means 2 HT systems, 1 projection tv, 1 lcd tv, 2 computers, and 2 lcd monitors will be on the same circuit. Would that be over loading?

 

[jlehnert]

I would absolutely go with another breaker, if just to isolate all the HT gear from the pool system. Depending on what else is on the circuit, you are probably also getting into possible overload conditions.

The equipment needed for a new circuit is cheap (new breaker <$10, + wire + receptacles). Your labor is cheap. The electricians labor............$$$$$$$. It depends on your knowledge, and how much you value your time. If you don't feel comfortable doing it, then hire a pro. Electrical shocks can ruin your day (and week, and month, .....)

 

[nsisman]

unrealii,


50's ground wiring.

My whole house ( circa 1950 ) was wired with grounds terminated in the back of the box but back then there was no electrical code that required the ground wire extended and there were no u-ground outlets that would require it to be extended.

Grounding a light fixture - unheard of !

Times they are a changin'

probably x10 was just X5 back then.........

My place was so modern in 1950 that it had glass block windows in the kitchen....imagine that !

Neil
Newmarket