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Posted to alt.home.repair
Richard M. Utter
 
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Default How to upgrade outlets and switches

I'm preparing my mother's home for sale. It was built about 1953 and the
wiring lacks the usual third ground conductor. To make it possible to
conveniently plug in stoves, refrigerators, and power tools with
three-wire cords, my father simply replaced two-wire outlets with
three-wire ones, leaving their ground lugs disconnected.

At this point, every switch and outlet in the house is worn out,
paint-covered, or installed up-side-down, so I plan to replace all of
them. I started out intending to turn the clock back and replace all the
outlets with two-wire ones, but it appears that I can't even buy them
any more. Certainly the local HD doesn't have any.

So the question is whether there's a proper way to connect a three-wire
outlet to antiquated two-wire cable?