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From: jordan@Morgan.COM (Jordan Hayes)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house,sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Grounding old electrics
Message-ID: <360@s5.Morgan.COM>
Date: 31 Aug 89 18:32:10 GMT
References: <1613@sunset.MATH.UCLA.EDU>
Reply-To: jordan@Morgan.COM (Jordan Hayes)
Distribution: misc
Organization: Morgan Stanley and Co., NY, NY
Lines: 21

Harold Wong <hgw@math.ucla.edu> asks:

	I was once told that I could use the metal conduit as the
	ground and eliminate the third wire.  Is this true?

Let me relate a little story.  A few years back, I had 3-prong outlets
that (as I later found out) were connected to a 2-wire plant, with the
ground attached to the conduit.  Everything was fine for a while.  I
had a stereo, VCR, tape deck, TV, etc. plugged into this outlet -- all
plugs had 2-prongs.  One day I got a new TV with 3 prongs, and plugged
it into the loop.  It turns out that somewhere along the line, the hot
wire had a short to the conduit.  Now, I also had cable TV, which
*knows* what ground is (I could see it plugged into the dirt outside my
window!).  A fire-fight ensued between the Cable TV and the VCR.

	"Jordan, do you think that thing should be smoking and sparking?"
		-- my old roomate, leslie

The VCR lost :-(

/jordan