replacing old recepticles with new?

how do you replace an old , ungrounded recepticle with a new one....This house is wired with 12-2 awg with no ground..I want to put in grounded ones......also..should they be 20 amp recepticles...I have 20 amp breakers??...

Thanks.....Hunt

 

GFCI. Since there is no ground you cannot replace the ungrounded outlets with outlets that look to be grounded. The outlets need be rated only for the use at hand. 15 amp receptacles will generally do, even though the breaker is for 20 amp.

 

Do you just want a grounded receptacle? Or do you actually want a ground?

If you just need a grounded receptacle, code allows you to put in a grounded receptacle if you provide GFCI protection (by a GFCI receptacle, a GFCI receptacle upstream, or a GFCI breaker). This provides personal safety, but won't protect sensitive electronics equipment.

If you need a real ground, you should first use a voltmeter to see if you already have one to the metal box. If not, you need to run a grounding wire all the way from this box back to the electrical panel. It is often just as easy and better to run a new cable that contains a ground. If your test shows you already have a grounded box, then you can buy a grounding jumper to ground the receptacle to the box.

As chfite, you may use either 15-amp or 20-amp receptacles.

Don't even think about connecting to either the plumbing or to a grounding rod (although there are certain very limited situations where that would be okay, those situations probably don't apply to you).

 

Thanks you both for your help>>I will use gfis......thanks