2-prong into 3-prong sockets?

Question

How do you change a two prong electrical socket into a three prong (grounded) socket in an older house? What are things I should watch for?

Links to ‘how-to’ would be awesome!


Thanks!

Answer 1

If you mean you want to change the electrical outlets from two prong to three prong, that should be a relatively easy DIY project.

If you remove one of the outlets from the wall box, look inside, & see if there is a bare copper grounding wire attached under a terminal screw at the back, or side of the box.
When you replace the old outlet with a new 3 hole outlet all you have to do is connect at least 6" of AWG 14, or AWG 12 wire between the copper ground in the wall box, & the green terminal screw for the ground on the new outlet. Make sure that your new piece of ground wire is either the bare copper kind, or is coated with green coloured insulation if you want to stay within code.
When you connect the other wires (Black, & white) be carefull to connect those to the proper terminals on the outlet.
If you look at the socket portion of the outlet you will notice that of the three holes the U shaped hole is for the ground. With the U at the top you will see the slot on the left is smaller than the slot on the right. The smaller slot (left) is the line side of the socket or where the black wire connects. The right side with the larger slot is the neutral, or where the white wire connects.
Some guys here will tell you to connect the white wire to the silver coloured screws, & the black wire to the brass coloured screws. I find my method of identifying the right place to put the black & white wires a little more foolproof.
Some appliances will still work if you get the wires reversed, but some also ground their metal cases, & you could end up creating a dangerous ground loop if you reverse the black & white wires so be careful.

Changing your 2 prong outlets to 3 prong is a worthwhile, & simple home improvement project.
Happy wiring.

Answer 2

First off, it's really called an outlet. A socket is the round thingy you screw a light bulb into. Okay, next, you can get adapters, but they don't really do the job completely. They are just a temporary work-around. In the older 2-wire systems, the neutral wire also carried the ground. So when you use an adapter to convert it to accept a 3-prong outlet, either you've created a third hole that's really connected to nothing, or else that third prong connects to the neutral side of the outlet. Very rarely, the ground connection will actually be manually connected by a wire to some grounding source (water pipe, radiator, etc). One problem with any of those adapters (and one of the basic problems with the 2-prong outlets) is that the outlet slots were not always different sizes. So the plug could be inserted either way. That wouldn't hurt a light bulb, but could damage a motor or appliance. Now, when you plug in an adapter to that kind of outlet, you don't know which way to make it face. If it's in wrong, you'll have the ground connected to the hot wire, and somebody could get hurt badly.

I think it's best to remove the entire outlet from the wall, add a grounding wire (a big job in itself, as this wire has to go through the walls to a good grounding source) and then install a modern, 3-prong outlet. In damp areas you may even want to use a GFCI outlet (built-in circuit-breaker, with a little reset button in the middle). If all this sounds complicated or scary, you may want to find somebody who can help, and understands wiring better.

Sorry I can't provide a link. I've never had need for one, myself!

Answer 3

Angela, You can put a 2 prong extension cord into a 3 prong extension cord. The 3rd prong is the 'ground' for your edger. Your electric lawn edger electric cord ground plug-in must have broken off. This will not hurt to put a 2 prong(male) into a 3 prong(female) extension cord. Just don`t do the opposite to where the ground is sticking off the side of the connection. That may cause you to get a shock if you have a grounding problem. 3 pronged electric cords are the safest cords you can buy, don`t buy any 2 prong cords. Hoped this helped you be safe and have a manicured lawn.

Answer 4

Hire someone to do the job. A 3 prong socket needs to be properly grounded and instaled. Just geting an adaptor wont be a good idea. The outlet can still short.Check out DIY networks website.

Answer 5

purcase a 2 prong adapter to plug the 3 prong into purchase at any local hardware store and just screw in the adapter into the socket w/ the plate screw.

Answer 6

unless you pull a ground wire you can't according to code....


or just do it, & have them not be grounded!