On Sat, 15 Sep 2007 21:08:55 +0000, methochias wrote:

On Sep 15, 4:50 pm, "Toller" wrote:
wrote in message

ups.com...

I'm in an old apartment and I'm rewiring my receptacles because they
have no ground. I have some odd situations.

Most are two prong receptacles, but some are 3 prong. I tested the
voltage on them. The 3 prong I tested showed about 60v from ground
screw to the small slot-HOT and60v from the ground screw to the large
slot(NEUT).

There is no way you can get these reading legitamately. My guess is that
ground screw is not grounded and the 60v is phantom voltage.
...

Question is 1) Would it hurt to rewire the recepticles to large-
neutral, small-hot. I'm imagining a situation where one day I plug
something in with the ground and hot shorted... What should I check
and look out for?

Yes, once you make certain you know what you are doing you should reverse
them.
I just don't have much confidence in what you are finding.
...

To meet code you have to run a wire back to the circuit box, going through
all the same holes as the other wires. Even that might not be enough, but I
can't see your wiring.
It is debatable if a wire to the radiator is more or less safe than nothing.

Thanks for the detailed reply. Holyheck, that's a lot of lath and
plaster walls to rip out - 2nd floor to the basement. The landlord
downstairs probably won't be interested in having his walls
disturbed. Nothing can be easy can it.. Wonder if anyone else has
suggestions. I'll see if I can get a lightbulb tester over those
voltages..



Your comment here about the landlord is a red flag.

Let your landlord take care of the electrical problem, not you. If he
does not and you think there is a safety issue, take this up with the
building inspector.

The last thing you need to do is mess with a landlord's property. Even if
he/she were to give an OK, you certainly don't want to be in a position
where the responsibility could come back to haunt you.

If this were your own building, then that's another scenario. For now,
it's the landlord's problem to resolve.

By the way, if you don't have his OK and something goes wrong, you may
find yourself in hot water.