3 Prong/2 Prong Outlet

L

LJ57

2[H]4U
Joined
Jan 3, 2001
Messages
2,061
I didn't know where to put this topic so hopefully this is an appropriate place for it. I moved into a house that has only two prong outlets so I cant even plug a surge protector in to get the computers setup. Are there converters available for plugging three prong connectors into 2 prong outlets? Thanks
 
Sure. Any Hardware store, Home Depot , Radio Shack, so forth will have an adapter.

gl :)
 
Thanks for the info. I felt like an idiot for having to ask but I had just never in my life seen a house with two prong outlets. I'll go to Home Depot tommorrow and take care of that.
 
LJ57 said:
Thanks for the info. I felt like an idiot for having to ask but I had just never in my life seen a house with two prong outlets. I'll go to Home Depot tommorrow and take care of that.
Click to expand...

No. No reason to feel that way at all. I've just lived in many, many old houses so I learned to adapt. :D

Have fun. :)
 
Yup...then there should be a ground on it you attach to the center screw of the outlet plate.
 
outlets are like $1/ea. Get to it. They need it anyway if they're old enough to be 2-prong. I bet plugs fall out of them if you just think about it.
 
you can always get the little orange connector thingies that take 3 prongs and allow the 2 old ones to go through but stops the third one.

this means you get electricity but it's not grounded.

 
I'd replace the outlets if i were you, not just go with an adapter.

This is very weird, never heard of a house without only 2 prong outlets. Out of curiousity, how old is the house?
 
Carnival Forces said:
you can always get the little orange connector thingies that take 3 prongs and allow the 2 old ones to go through but stops the third one.

this means you get electricity but it's not grounded.
Click to expand...

Those are what other people mentioned as having tabs that you connect to the center screw of the socket. They're not good to use and outlets should be replaced instead.
 
Yes you should replace the outlets, but there will be more to it than that. The third prong is the ground. This should be wired to a metal bar driven a few feet into the ground outside of your house (Dont flame me for this, I lived in an old house that was retrofitted with grounded outlets this way by a qualified electrician). Apparently you house is pretty old and was built before this was required by code. This prong allows electricity fron any shorts to travel safely to ground instead of thru your body. You could probably live for 100 years without this being a problem, but the one time you need it, you will really need it.

This also becomes an issue with the crowd that insists on a wrist strap while building a computer. The wrist stap is connected to the case, which is connected to the power supply, which is connected to the third prong, which is connected to the..... you guessed it, ground.
 
You can replace the outlets with 3prongs.


but try to be smart and atleast tie a ground pigtail from the outlet to the box, if its metal.
 
grounding is very important, if you only use two prong outlets you can be shocked...it's happened to a friend. He used one of my extension cords that had only two prongs, he turned on his pc and went to type on the keyboard and got few quite powerful shocks by touching the keys, lol. Funniest thing I have ever seen that has to do with pc's. Just thought i'd warn against not grounding the pc lol.
GO GROUNDING!

...Dan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top