grounding


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Old 03-10-06, 10:00 AM
jennybird
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grounding

My house was built in the 50's and only the kitchen is grounded. Someone told me that I would have to have somebody drop wires down from the attic space to ground the house. My husband and I both know absolutley nothing about electrical work and are smart enough to pay someone to do the job for us. How much does it usually cost to ground a small house of about 1600 sq. feet?
 
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Old 03-10-06, 10:08 AM
R
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First, decide if you really want to do this. Grounding your ungrounded receptacles is, in my opinion, a waste of time and money.

Your time and money would be better spent in adding a few receptacles on new circuits in places where you need a grounded circuit.

I say this because if your house is like most older houses with ungrounded circuits, the few circuits you have are overloaded and probably close to their limit.
 
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Old 03-10-06, 11:02 AM
J
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I agree with Bob. It's probably not worth it to simply decide to ground everything. You want to be more selective, providing grounding where it will do the most good (computers, refrigerators, washing machines). And, as Bob pointed out, it's not much harder to add a whole new cable as it is to add a grounding wire. And running a new cable offers many advantages over just adding a grounding wire. In addition to grounding, it gets you modern wire, it gets you more power, and it gets you additional outlets.

Take a look at your appliance plugs. If they only have two prongs on them, grounding won't help them any.
 
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Old 03-31-06, 12:25 PM
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Ok, I'm not trying to be a pain (I've replied to a few of these to make sure I cover all of my bases) but what if you don't want MORE receptacles? For example, I want to ground one outlet for a computer, and the room it's in is only 9' x 11' and already has one outlet on each wall. In my opinion it would be silly and look silly to add a new receptacle in the room. So wouldn't grounding that one be a better choice.

Thoughts?
 
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Old 03-31-06, 12:43 PM
R
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And what will you do when you find out that the breaker trips or the fuse blows every time you turn the computer on?

Not only were some older houses built without grounds to the majority of the receptacles and switches, they were built with far too few receptacles, and more importantly far too few circuits, for today's needs.

You should know this already, but if you don't, you should figure out just what rooms and loads are on each breaker or fuse. You may very well find out that the receptacle you want to use for your computer is on the same circuit as the receptacle where you plug in the vacuum cleaner, which is on the same circuit as where you use your mega-big hair dryer.

You may end up tripping the breaker or blowing the fuse whenever you run your laser printer, for example, if someone is drying their hair at the same time.

It sure is a pain to have your computer lose power before you have saved, but after you have typed three or four pages of text, or just when you finally find the one page on the Internet you need, but before you can take note of the URL or save it.

If you haven't already done so, make a complete list of what is on each and every circuit breaker or fuse.

Then decide if you really can place your computer on the circuit you want to use it on.
 
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Old 03-31-06, 02:29 PM
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Originally Posted by gulickgurl
what if you don't want MORE receptacles?
Then you remove what you have and replace it with all new.

> So wouldn't grounding that one be a better choice.
No. There is a lot more "wrong" with your electrical system.

I say "wrong" in the sense that it is wrong for your new needs.

The missing ground is just a symptom, not the disease.
 
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Old 03-31-06, 02:53 PM
I
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Originally Posted by jennybird
How much does it usually cost to ground a small house of about 1600 sq. feet?
I agree with everything the other posters have said, but to directly answer your question: depending on the exact layout of the house and the prevailing labor rate in your area, it could be several thousand dollars in labor. Attics are a pain in the neck to work in (literally), and any electrician you hire is probably going to recommend one of the methods already suggested.

Grounding old receptacles is a waste of time compared with adding new.
 
 

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