Switching outlet covers from two to three pronged outlets?
Question:My house has outlet covers which have three set of two prongs. How can I switch the outlets to have two sets of three prongs? Our inspector said that the outlets are grounded.
Answers:
We had the 3 sets of 2 prong outlets in our house when we bought it. First time I had seen that myself. I replaced them with the usual twin 3 prong outlets.
Make sure you have metal conduit (or the flexible metal spiral bx stuff) running back to the breaker box. That will be your ground. Turn the breakers off and verify with a tester (or radio or lamp) that the outlet is dead. Unscrew the old outlet and attach the correct wires to the same color terminals on one side of the new 3 prong outlet. Usually one is silver colored and the other is brass. Cut a short (5 inch or so) of green wire, strip and curl the ends, and connect that to the green screw on the outlet and a screw on the back of the wall box. Pack it all back in, turn the breaker back on, and test it with a tester to make sure the wiring is correct and the ground is good.
When you buy the green wire for the ground, make sure you find out the correct wire gauge for the rating of the outlet (10 amp, 15 amp, etc.) Make sure the new outlet itself is also of the correct amp rating. If you have any questions, talk to an electrician or someone that knows what they are doing. I'm afraid I already gave you enough info to fry yourself.
3 sets of 2 prongs? That sounds un-right.
if there are 2 sets of 2 prong outlets then just replace the outlet with a pair of 3 prong outlets (available anywhere) and connect the ground to the box.
The power needs to be shut off and the outlets need to be the same power.
Take a walk through home depot and see what they have available. If you cant find a near drop in replacement or have no real wiring knowledge, the you should just stay away from it, the outlets could be 2phase, 220 a whole glut of oddities in old homes.
But if you can run a meter, shut a fuse its not that big of a deal as the 3prong to 2 prong converter attaches the ground to the center screw and essentially you are doing that internally
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