"John Moorhead" wrote in message . com...
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?

I would appreciate any remarks from those that KNOW and have experience.
The last thing I want is a fire....

I was under the house yesterday and found some old andirons.... All of the
timber underneath is full dimension stuff, maybe even bigger....

Thanks in advance for any help that can be given....

John Moorhead



Is the wiring 'BX' (metal sheath)? If it is, check if you have 120 V between the Hot and the metal box. If there is, the ground is
being carried by the cable sheath. What you will want to do is to attach a ground strap to the box, then to the outlet.

If there is no ground present, then follow the other advice given.

--
Al Reid

"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know
for sure that just ain't so." --- Mark Twain