Outlets without ground

[Giz]

I'm living in an older house (Ontario, Canada) and the landlord hasn't converted the old outlets from two prong, to three prong so there's no grounding there. Some of the outlets in the house have the three prongs however I don't believe it's converted correctly so it's more or less just the plug but it isn't grounded.

Anyway, the one room I'd like to move my PC into has only one outlet, and they're both two prong. I've seen adapters (illegal?) that can be used that will allow you to plug a three prong power bar into a two prong outlet, and I also believe I have an older extension cord that only has two prongs.

I'm just concerned about the safety of my PC, or consoles or anything electrical that would be plugged into it. More so my PC though. Risks? Should I avoid? I don't seem to be faced with too many options because as I said, I don't think even the three prong outlets in the house (including the one I'm using right now) is properly converted.

I have a surge protector power bar, but does that even matter if there's no grounding going on?

Thanks.

[Mihail]

It's likely already grounded(the outlet), merely using a older style connection before 3 prongs started becoming so prevalent, if it's at all possible find the electrical box for your house/flat, turn off the one that's in question and open the outlet up by unscrewing whatever is holding it in place then looking for a grounding wire, if you can't find any, I would then suggest buying(very useful), renting or borrowing a voltage tester.

The adaptor you are talking about are not illegal.

As for the surge bar, it will protect you to an extent, but your best bet for your PC would be a battery backup to protect your computer, the surge bar will fine for a TV.

[Nemmerle]

IIRC - and I may be wrong here - water pipes in older houses tend to constitute a ground because it's all metal and run through the earth. If that's true you might be able to take the ground wire out of your plug where it'd normally go into the third prong, extend it via a bit of chocolate block and a longer wire and connect it to one of the pipes.

Dunno, I think there are people around here who actually know about electronics though

[Goody.]

I am unsure as to the regulations in your country but all sockets have to grounded in the UK.
Nerm is spot on in that all sinks, baths, radiators and pipes should be earthed. This is not to say that they act as a earth (Ground) as that is usually something only a survey could tell you. I say that because in the UK it would be 99% of the time be the mains water pipe and all other pipes, sinks and so on are wired to that. In countries like USA and Canada were water tanks are still very much in use then the building would probably have it's own dedicated earth rod.
Easiest thing to do is to speak to your lanlord as it is more than likely that if a socket is presented as a earthed socket then it has to be by law.
If you are going to open up a socket to look then turn the power of first at the consumer unit or buy something like this.
CED Plug in Socket Tester | Screwfix.com

You plug it in and it tells you the status of each of the pins.

[MrFancypants]

If there is no grounding connection a fault in the appliance could lead to problems such as fires or electrouction.

I think replacing the outlet with a GFCI is what you usually do when no ground is available, this should be safe, but whether you can connect a PC probably depends on the specifications of the GFCI.

I don't think that your surge protector bar will help. It is designed to protect equipment from power surges by routing the charge to the ground of the outlet (which isn't there in your case), not to detect faults in the equipment.

Keep in mind that I am not an electrician - it may be a good idea to call a professional and let him sort everything out. Tell him about your suspicion that you may have bootleg grounding (difficult to detect unless you open the outlet and take a look) as it would unsafe.

[Red Menace]

So, I have no idea, but I asked my dad, who is an electrical engineer, for you. He says, he grew up in an age when houses weren't grounded, so his house wasn't grounded. But, when they started to switch over, he said there was an adapter that was very commonly used back then that you plugged into the two-prong that had a metal bar attached.

Spoiler:

You would take off the cover plate, plug the adapter in, slide the cover plate back over it, then thread the cover plate screw through the hole in the metal bar, tightening it against the cover plate to assure a connection and that would ground it.

Stuff like that still seems available, but he thinks technology has probably advanced to something better since then and suggests you just go to Home Deport (I assume Home Depot is in Canada) and ask them, they should have something and if they have something, it isn't illegal.

[MrFancypants]

Originally Posted by Red Menace

So, I have no idea, but I asked my dad who is an electrical engineer for you. He says, he grew up in an age when houses weren't grounded, so his house wasn't grounded. But, when they started to switch over, he said there was an adapter that was very commonly used back then that you plugged into the two-prong that had a metal bar attached.

Spoiler:

You would take off the cover plate, plug the adapter in, slide the cover plate back over it, then thread the cover plate screw through the hole in the metal bar, tightening it against the cover plate to assure a connection and that would ground it.

Stuff like that still seems available, but he thinks technology has probably advanced to something better since then and suggests you just go to Home Deport (I assume Home Depot is in Canada) and ask them, they should have something and if they have something, it isn't illegal.

No offense to your dad, but I think that only works in special cases. The latch is supposed to connect to a part of the outlet which is supposed to be grounded. If it isn't, or if the outlet is made of plastic instead of metal it won't work.

[Red Menace]

YOU CALLIN' MY DAD A LIAR!? Just kidding, doesn't upset me, he could be wrong. After all, he just knows what I told him and I'm certainly a novice on the subject and I may have explained it wrong. He is pretty savvy with that stuff, so I would trust him if he had all the information, but he doesn't.

[D3matt]

Well that adapter would work, if you knew for sure the outlet was grounded. It's supposed to be screwed in under the screw in the center, which SHOULD be grounded. But, that's all assuming the original wiring followed code, which is a rather generous assumption to make, and that nothing has broken down since then.

[AlDaja]

If an outlet is not connected to a dedicated ground your surge protector won’t protect your equipment. With regard to the 3 to 2 adapter, it won't protect your computer or you from electric shock unless the mounting box the receptacle (outlet) sits in is made of metal and attached to a stud that makes contact with the house’s foundation. The receptacle in the box also must have a ground connection that links it to the box.

Putting in a GFCI won’t do you any good unless the line is grounded to begin with, hence the name ground-fault circuit interrupter. Basically, it’s design to monitor power imbalances and trip the line saving you the cost of replacing appliances, but it only works if the line is properly grounded. The simplest and safest way is to ground the receptacle directly to the metal pipes in the crawl space or basement. If the breaker box is near, they can be ran into the box and secured to the grounding bus bar. I suggest hiring an electrician to ground the receptacle for you.