On Wed, 07 Apr 2004 03:32:50 GMT, "John Moorhead"
wrote:

Folks -

I have an old Victorian, Circa 1868.... The tenants trashed it, long
story.... Anyway, most of the electric outlets are two prong, rather than
grounded.... I would like to put grounded outlets in, but I have only a hot
(black) and neutral (white) No separate ground wire....

Would it be safe to install a 3 wire plug and have the ground and neutral
common to the white wire? Would this work and be safe? Only having 2 prong
outlets has been a PITA, and getting under the house to run separate grounds
would be a real bit of work. Would bridging the ground and common terminals
also work and be safe with a GFCI outlet?
snip

No. It is not safe nor allowed by code to use a current carrying
conductor (neutral) as an equipment grounding conductor (ground).

If the neutral were to open downstream, you would have 120 volts on
the exterior metal parts of anything connected in that way. Excellent
way to get electrocuted.

You are allowed to install a GFCI outlet with no ground connection to
provide a 3 prong outlet when no ground is available. This is safe
because the GFCI will trip if there is any fault current flowing to an
external ground (like between your hair dryer and the sink faucet via
your arms!).

This is not a perfect solution, because you still don't have an actual
ground connection which can help eliminate electrical interference
to/from electronic equipment. But it is safe and allowed by code.

HTH,

Paul