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Hi. I will soon contact an electrician for a little work on my home. I own in a multi-story building condo. It's an older building, and there still are some two-pronged outlets left in my unit. (My home inspection report does certify that the current three-prong outlets in my unit are grounded). There is a two-pronged outlet where I'd like a three-pronged outlet. It's far, far away from the other three-pronged grounded outlets in my unit.
Is this an easy job for any certified electrician, or do I really need to carefully consider the electrician's qualifications?
Does "grounding" mean adding a wire that extends all the way to the ground floor? (I live many stories above the street level.)
Are ANY of your outlets 3prong? Like the one behind the fridge or the microwave? Your building may be grounded but the LL didn't put the time and money to swapping to 3 prong. First you need to go to the main breaker panel for your place and look inside. There should be four to five different "color" wires. Black red white bare/green jacket copper. ( green jacket will only be there if you're going through EMT conduit or if they used MC cable You're looking for thinner bare or green jacket copper wires screwed to a metal bar bolted to the panel itself. That's your ground buss bar and ground wires. There should also be a thick bare copper wire on that buss bar. Now you know the building is grounded.
In some cases the ground wire is there stuffed in the back of the box twisted and crimped together. In other cases the mounting box is metal and it's what you use to ground to that. If the wire is ran in EMT conduit and goes to the main panel adding a ground is easy. If there is no ground wire and no EMT conduit and house uses romex it would have to be a really old place not to have a copper wire used for ground. You can use a GFCI outlet which is better than what you currently have but it won't be grounded. You need to affix a sticker per NEC that states no equipment ground that comes in the box with GFCI.
Turn off breakers or main power if you plan on poking around
Thank you for your reply. Tinkering around with electricity is a job I will not risk. I will hire an electrician like you. Even if it means it's a basic D-I-Y job of connecting a few wires with all the circuit breakers off. I don't want to cause an electrical fire or kill anyone. I'm going to leave the work to a certified pro.
Just wondering if this is an easy task for the electrician, if the outlet is not at all grounded?
Thank you for your reply. Tinkering around with electricity is a job I will not risk. I will hire an electrician like you. Even if it means it's a basic D-I-Y job of connecting a few wires with all the circuit breakers off. I don't want to cause an electrical fire or kill anyone. I'm going to leave the work to a certified pro.
Just wondering if this is an easy task for the electrician, if the outlet is not at all grounded?
Its not hard depending on what you have there existing. If the ground is there just stuffed in the box its a 15 minute deal.
...Just wondering if this is an easy task for the electrician, if the outlet is not at all grounded?
The *right* way to do this is to pull a new wire from the main electric panel. That can be easy or quite difficult (requiring tearing up drywall, brick, concrete, etc. and then hiring someone to patch that).
If you have a single story home with a basement and large attic - wood construction walls, then it can be quite easy to pull a new wire.
Best to get an estimate or two. The electrician will know how much work will be involved.
Electrician person here. The number of prongs on the face of the device will be irrespective of whether or not it's grounded properly.
Odds are if you unscrew the outlet cover (plastic or metal plate covering the outlet) then unscrew the outlet (the pluggy into thingy) itself you will find a metal box. If so odds are there will be a (very) short ground wire wrapped around/through holes in the back of the box.
Granted, the way they did it back then was slightly different. Today we mostly use plastic boxes and ground directly to the device (the outlet). With metal boxes the screws connecting the device to the box technically provide grounding. Nothing wrong with it, but you should still get your devices updated simply because your residents will have (already do it seems) a hard time plugging things in.
The only way you would not have grounding is if your building is pre-1930s and uses Knob and Tube (K&T) wiring. This assumes you've had no updating in it since then. Even then there's nothing wrong with it as long as it remains undisturbed and nothing is damaged. If that were the case though an overhaul would still be recommended. Contact someone in your area who knows the codes specific to your locale. Most are pretty darn similar throughout the country, but always consult someone local.
There are many homes that have only two wires going to outlets with no ground conductor whatsoever (and not knob & tube).
While you can just run a ground from the panel to the outlet, its sometimes easier just to run a new circuit to where you want 3 prong grounded outlets and install new. It may not be that easy in a multi-story condo.
Since your home inspection showed there were grounded outlets, the best bet is probably to just run a wire from a known ground to where you need a grounded outlet.
You might be in for some drywall repairs though, if there isn't an easy access for them to run a wire.
Here is a potentially cheaper. and IMO better and safer way of going about it, especially as you are not a DIY type.
First have the electrician find the first outlet of each circuit run and replace that outlet with a GFCI outlet. Now have him replace the remaining outlets on those circuits with three prong outlets. Have him label all the outlets as ungrounded. You are now NEC compliant and much safer with the GFCI protecting these circuits.
If you want to go the extra mile, also have him check your earth grounding system and make sure it meets current NEC requirements. If not, have him pound in a couple of new ground rods and run a new earth grounding wire. Now have him install a whole house surge suppressor at the main panel.
If your panel is compatible, have the 15/20 Amp breakers replaced with AFCI breakers. This will alert you to problems that may/have develop(ed) in your older electrical wires.
Do these things and your electrical system will be better than most current houses built today, regardless of a missing ground wire on a few outlet circuits. You also don't need to go tearing up walls to add a grounding wire of dubious usefulness with GFCI there instead.
I had some two prong outlets and some three prong outlets.
I used a multimeter (and one of those testers) to confirm the 3 prrong's were all normal polarity and grounded.
I then turned off the breaker, removed the cover of the of the 2 prong outlets and using my meter checked to make sure that the outlet boxes were grounded. They were. I installed the 3 prong outlets, tying them into the outlet box with a pigtail.
No wires had to be run, just a small 3 inch wire from the new outlet to the outlet box the outlet sat in.
I assume you don't have a meter and can't check, but best case scenario is the outlet boxes are grounded and it will be a quick swap for the electrician. If not, I imagine wires will have to be run and you should check his qualifications if this is the case (and really, no matter what, check his qualifications.)
I would also suggest getting a $5-10 outlet tester from Lowe's or something to check all your current 3 prong outlets to make sure they are grounded and of normal polarity. This is something you can have him do too, but it's easy and good to check on your own.
Electrician person here. The number of prongs on the face of the device will be irrespective of whether or not it's grounded properly.
The only way you would not have grounding is if your building is pre-1930s and uses Knob and Tube (K&T) wiring. This assumes you've had no updating in it since then. Even then there's nothing wrong with it as long as it remains undisturbed and nothing is damaged. If that were the case though an overhaul would still be recommended. Contact someone in your area who knows the codes specific to your locale. Most are pretty darn similar throughout the country, but always consult someone local.
I have a property built in 1954 (not knob&tube) and it is only two-wire throughout, no ground wires. I was quoted roughly $5000 to ground all the outlets and as soon as I can scrape the $ together I'm going to do it and sleep easier at night.
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