What if you have no earth (3rd prong) ground connection?

[honkyjonk]

The place I'm moving into right now is pretty old, and all the outlets are either two prong, or three prongs that don't have the 3rd prong connected.

Now, I'm sure the neutral is connected to ground via the main node before entering the house.

The wiring throughout the house is actually buried in the walls because the walls are made of adobe brick.

Anyway, so the main AC outlet that I'll be connecting the gear to has a 3 prong connection, but when I plug in one of the ground sensing power strips it's saying there is no ground. When I opened up the outlet, I found that there were only 2 wires, hot and neutral.

What do I need to do here? This effectively seems like there's not gonna be anything causing interference to my studio's ground because (there isn't one?)

Seems dicey.

Should I go ahead and bury a grounding steak that connects to the third prong of that outlet, and also connects to the nub (wherever it is)?

[RefD]

The place I'm moving into right now is pretty old, and all the outlets are either two prong, or three prongs that don't have the 3rd prong connected.

Now, I'm sure the neutral is connected to ground via the main node before entering the house.

The wiring throughout the house is actually buried in the walls because the walls are made of adobe brick.

Anyway, so the main AC outlet that I'll be connecting the gear to has a 3 prong connection, but when I plug in one of the ground sensing power strips it's saying there is no ground. When I opened up the outlet, I found that there were only 2 wires, hot and neutral.

What do I need to do here? This effectively seems like there's not gonna be anything causing interference to my studio's ground because (there isn't one?)

Seems dicey.

Should I go ahead and bury a grounding steak that connects to the third prong of that outlet, and also connects to the nub (wherever it is)?

this was my situation until 2001.

you can either live with it or get an electrician to come in and fix it right.

really.

[honkyjonk]

Okay,

What I'm trying to figure out is what living with it is going to entail. What's gonna happen with my big Furman balanced power thingy when I hook it up to an outlet that has no ground on the third prong?

Should I ground the third prong to the neutral? That doesn't seem like a good thing to do, but it's grounded where it comes into the house anyway right?

[RefD]

Okay,

What I'm trying to figure out is what living with it is going to entail. What's gonna happen with my big Furman balanced power thingy when I hook it up to an outlet that has no ground on the third prong?

Should I ground the third prong to the neutral? That doesn't seem like a good thing to do, but it's grounded where it comes into the house anyway right?

not necessarily.

didn't know you had a "balanced power thingy".

definitely contact an electrician...i'd personally want to rewire the area used for the studio to be on its own circuit and also have it grounded.

[FNM]

This is a good question. I will say, I've been living with it for about a year at the place I'm in now. I often have a full band with PA and a couple power strips worth of studio gear running and have had no problems, and no noticeable ground hum or anything like that. I do run everything through a 'surge protector.' But yeah, it would be nice to hear an expert chime in about this.

[Andy Peters]

This is a good question. I will say, I've been living with it for about a year at the place I'm in now. I often have a full band with PA and a couple power strips worth of studio gear running and have had no problems, and no noticeable ground hum or anything like that. I do run everything through a 'surge protector.' But yeah, it would be nice to hear an expert chime in about this.

Having no safety ground for equipment that requires it is not a problem ...

until that equipment has a failure that puts the mains hot onto the chassis.

With a properly grounded mains outlet, that short causes the circuit breaker to trip.

With an ungrounded outlet, you die when you touch the hot chassis and something else that's at a different potential (like a microphone plugged into a mixer).

Hire an electrician to add properly-grounded circuits.

-a

[bantam]

im no expert but i did replace one outlet per circuit (usually the first) with a gfi. you can plug 3 prong plugs in and it will protect against nasty shocks.

[percussion boy]

What I did, which someone else will wisely tell you is not the best solution, was to ground to the bathroom cold water sink pipe with a grounding clamp/grounding wire/3-2 adapter (wire attaches the clamp, which is around the pipe, to the metal loop on the 3-2). This does not always work, but here it did; the power conditioner detects a ground.

I am NOT an electrician and I do NOT officially recommend this for anyone else's rig. Calling in a pro to set up a good ground would be better no doubt.

For me, the diy ground was much better than nothing. Before this solution, the VCR and the TV had been sent to the shop by a bad surge . . .


[edited for correction - should be COLD water pipe]

[digitaldrummer]

you might be able to get an electrician to safely run 1 or 2 circuits for you instead of rewiring the whole house. at least that would be cheaper and then you know its done right and nobody will die.

[honkyjonk]

I probably will consult an electrician, but theoretically, am I right to say that what needs to be done is to put a steak or copper rod in the ground, and have it connecting to both that outlet's 3rd prong, and the nub where the neutral and all grounds are connected?

[thunderboy]

I probably will consult an electrician, but theoretically, am I right to say that what needs to be done is to put a steak or copper rod in the ground, and have it connecting to both that outlet's 3rd prong, and the nub where the neutral and all grounds are connected?

Bury the rod, grill the steak.

jt

[honkyjonk]

Thanks Super Nintendo Chalmers.

[lowbujit]

Are the electrical outlet boxes metal?

[honkyjonk]

Yes they are metal.

Are you surmising that there is a ground wire that possibly connects to the back of the box? I'll check that. Would it just be as simple as connecting that wire to the 3rd prong instead? (I had actually checked this on another outlet and didn't see another wire, so I doubt it's there)


By the way, just hypothetically, I'm wondering if someone can answer this for me.

When people bury a copper stake outside their house, and connect it to the earth ground for their studio outlets, and also connect that pole back to the box, or wherever the main ground is in the building, why is this any different than simply running a new ground wire directly from the outlet's earth ground back to the box independent of any other outlet?

Wouldn't this be accomplishing the same thing? Why does a copper stake have to be in the path?

[GooberNumber9]

or three prongs that don't have the 3rd prong connected.

Isn't that illegal?