Hi guys,

I'm new to the forums! I hope to learn a good bit here to go through with my daily projects on the house I just got myself!

Recently, I discovered that 3/4 of the outlets on the first level of the house are connected with ungrounded wiring even though the outlets were the 3 prongs type. I am considering my options and I'm thinking about installing a GFCI/AFCI breaker on this circuit to protect against shocks.

One thing I was wondering, does the ground pin on a 3 prongs outlet protect appliances in case of lightning strike or power surge, etc? Or does it just protect peoples? Would a GFCI breaker protect me and my appliances too?

What are the consequences of just switching to a GFCI breaker and keeping the original wiring?

Thanks!!

 

The ground wiring (or other approved path) inside a house or building is there to provide a low impedance path back to the over-current protection device. (fuse or circuit breaker) It protects people by connecting metal parts of anything that is plugged into the receptacle that may become energized.

Adding a GFCI breaker is an NEC approved method for installing grounding (3 hole) receptacles on an ungrounded circuit. The GFCI will add a layer of protection for you from shock hazards.

Nothing really. There will still not a be grounding path but the GFCi will detect any leakage to ground 4-6 milliamps.

 

Are appliances less protected?

 

Appliances are not normally protected by anything other then an over-current device, external or internal. A GFCI is really designed to protect personnel, but doing so will give protection to equipment. A GFCI does nothing for protection of surges (over voltage) or brown outs (under voltage)

 

So if I got a computer connected to a surge protection power bar even though nothing is grounded, the computer would still protected? Does surge protection protects against over current or over voltage?

 

A ground is needed for a surge protector to work.

The surge is excess voltage which is bled to ground. If by current you mean amps, amperage is normally greater than what the device needs. Light bulbs for example often use less than an amp but are on 15a or even 20a circuits.

 

Is there a way I can protect my appliances without re-wiring the circuit with a ground?

 

As mentioned already by others, GFCI will not protect against surges. It will provide protection against ground fault only (ie. short to neutral or current flowing through a person).
If the circuit is not grounded, GFCI will not trip even if chassis of an alliance becomes hot (short to ground) until it finds a path to ground (ie. person touch the appliance).

Many surge protectors and even some power strips has built in breaker which provides protection against over current exceeding surge protector or power strips designed maximum current.
However, the surge protection will not work without ground because surge protectors are designed to discharge surges to ground.
Over voltage protection can be provided with an AVR or UPS. Regular surge protectors don't have protection against over voltages (other than surges) regardless of present of ground.


You can run a separate ground wire back to the panel if you have an appliance that must be grounded.