Jim wrote:
Hi all, this is my first post on these groups so please be gentle =).

landlord of my concern and he consulted his electritian who suggested
that GFCI receptacles be installed.

GFCIs are considered by the NEC to be acceptable substitutes
for a grounded circuit for puposes of protecting people from
electrocution. A GFCI does not provide a ground when none is
present.

reading descriptions of GFCI receptacles, I may be wrong - A GFCI will
not protect your equipment from a surge simply because it works by
monitoring the difference between the hot and neutral. A surge could

You have the basic idea of how a GFCI works correct.

Now I spoke to the electrician and he first told me that I don't need
grounding, just a surge protector. When I informed him that I have
done research and that surge protectors use grounding to work, he
switched his story and said that the GFCI is grounded. The landlord

Find a better electrician. Unless there is already a ground wire
in the outlet box (and there might be, have you checked?) the GFCI
will not be grounded any more than the old outlet is. If there
is a ground wire present, then installing regular grounded outlets
would be simple enough. Has anyone looked?

like it. That brings me to my question. Is using GFCI instead of
grounding that big of a problem? Am I overreacting? Moving is a
hassle and I don't want to resort to it if i'm just being paranoid. I

Grounding can be useful, but you do seem a bit paranoid about it.
I've ran an old IBM PC on ungrounded outlets for several years
and never had a problem, except a modem card went out during
a thunderstorm, and that was due to a phone line surge, not power.
Do you get a lot of thunder storms? Does this cause power
fluctuations? If not, then I would probably not worry too
much.

Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.