View Single Post
  #8   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
Doug Miller Doug Miller is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6,375
Default Upgrading Outlets

In article , Jim Ellis at aol dot com wrote:
On Fri, 14 Sep 2007 06:30:24 GMT, "Toller" wrote:

Unlikely to have much luck at your pulling idea; there are certain to be
contraints on the wire.

First you want to make sure you don't have a ground available to the box
that just isn't being used. Have you opened up a box and checked the wire
going to it? 1955 sounds too new to be without a ground.


No, I have not opened any outlets yet. I just thought that since all
of the plugs are of the two prong type that they would not be
grounded. If I understand what you are saying is that at the breaker
panel there may be ground wires that are already attached


Yes...

and ran to
the outlets, is that correct?


... well, run to the boxes that the outlets are in, anyway. Obviously they
wouldn't be connected to the outlets themselves, since there's no place to
connect them. But yes, there may be ground wires there. It was common practice
in that era to strip the ground wire back from the cable sheath, and tie it
off to one of the screws on the cable clamp, without ever bringing it inside
the box. Of course, you won't be able to see that without removing the box
from the wall, but if you have any junction boxes in places where you can get
to them easily (exposed wiring in a basement, crawl space, or attic, for
example), you can see if the cables to those boxes have grounding conductors.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.