I just bought a condo built in 1961. It has two prong outlets throughout. I asked an electrician if I needed a complete rewiring to ground the outlets when upgrading to three prong. His answer was no, because in these buildings they used conduit which was grounded back to the main box, and I could just attach a ground wire from each receptacle to that. Thanks to your video, now I can see how that's done. Thank you!
Thank you for the simple and concise way to correct this problem with "vintage" houses from the 1950's. I have watched several video's, and yours just said..."do this" and you will be good! No endless babble and background. No need to make things more complex than they are!!
You can certainly install a 15 amp outlet on a 20amp circuit. You CANNOT install a 20 amp outlet on a 15amp circuit. This guy needs to get his facts straight. I would not trust anything he says.
Thank you. This is a good, rather thorough review. The electrical codes vary from state to state, and at different locations within a state. I removed a broken and unsafe duplex receptacle left by the previous owners, then listened to several certified electricians. I could not get a good ground by tying or screwing a ground lead to the box, so I installed a GFCI in the first duplex receptacle of a chain of six receptacles. This on the advice of several electricians. This has served us well for the last three years or more. It is best to get the advice of a good electrician before doing any electrical work, even if you think you know what you are doing. Be safe. Thank you, again.
@@shakes13t i didnt see the part in the video that showed the box itself was properly grounded. if it wasnt grounded then that ground wire he installed there is useless
I remember as a kid my father taught me, white wire goes to silver screws. You can remember because the Lone Ranger's horse was white but his name was silver. So white goes to silver.
This is true, but the premise is of anticipated loads in the circuit of convenience receptacles. The 20A receptacle for a known specific load like an A/C unit should get the 20A receptacle.
@@Alphasig336 He's not backward, but incomplete. 20A receptacles may be excede the current of a 15A circuit, but 20A receptacles cannot used since they signal false capacity.
Geez Bootstrap....after reading all the crap comments,I’ll bet your sorry you ever posted this...? But this is EXACTLY how I changed my 2’s to 3’s, because I also have armored cable.My house was built in1930’s,and I changed the outlets in the 1980’s...With four teenage daughters back then using hair dryers,boom boxes, and window A/C’s, we’ve never had any problems....keep up the good work....
Haha guess that's what you sign up for when you put yourself on the internet. And if your house can withstand four teenagers, then it can withstand anything!
My house was built in 1958. It had the BX metal cased wire through the whole house. Metal utility boxes were there and they had a threaded hole in them. I used that threaded hole for the ground anchor screw. I changed every plug.
Camera work aside (maybe get a small tripod or stand for more steady recording) this has been the most helpful video I found. You instruction on how to create a grounding wire down to the type of screw to use is what I needed. Thank u very much 👍🏾
An easy fix is to replace it with a GFCI receptacle and put a No Equipment Ground sticker on the cover plate. If you had more 2 prongs on the same circuit then find the home run receptacle, replace it with a GFCI but wire it so all the rest of the receptacles are on the load side of the GFCI. If its residential replace all the receptacles with Tamper Resistant receptacles. Put GFCI Protected & No Equipment Ground stickers on those face plates. This is code compliant but yes it's better to pull a ground wire if possible.
@@philadler7399 unless there is a ground from the wire attached directly to the box. keep the box grounded add the grounding screw to the box and a ground pigtail to the outlet.
@@mikemoyercell just to clarify, if the outlet box is plastic, with no ground wire running from the panel, should you do the following: 1. change the plastic outlet box to a metal one 2. screw a 6” copper ground wire into the metal box 3. purchase and install a gfci with a ground screw, then connect the newly added ground wire to the gfci Is this the safe way to upgrade your ungrounded 2 prong oulet to a grounded for equipment 3 prong gfci?
Good helpful video. Also good pointing out that the cable MUST have the ground strip integral to the AC cable. My best friend has been an electrician for almost 20 something odd years, and he was telling me a story about a service call involving an old house that had a mixture of knob and tube wiring, and fair amount of the older type of AC cable without the ground strip. The homeowner had installed some 3 slot type receptacles ground to the metal box just like you did. When a certain appliance was plugged in at times the homeowner would feel a tingle while touching the refrigerator, and also smelled burning wood at different times. My friend had found a section of the old AC cable that had rusted in the damp basement and had heated up due to a fault traveling on the armor and was beginning to char the joist where it was stapled to, but the 15 amp glass base fuse never blew.
And that's an outstanding point. Even with the right cable type, there's always that risk, so I should probably add a note for people to inspect the condition of the jacket. Even then, a rusted out portion may very well be hiding behind a wall.
@@Bootstrappin thats a nice house you got. I love the old pine wood wall paneling. Just curious, roughly what was the year of the build? I noticed in the video there was a more modern circuit breaker panel rather than the old type with the Edison base fuses and cartridge fuses typical of a home with two prong ungrounded receptacles. Or was the breaker box installed later ?
@@Bootstrappin If a newer 200A panel has been installed, what is the logic in running new ROMEX on a pair of 15A runs to a circuit that had two rooms on one circuit? The new circuits could allow an Air Conditioner (window unit) on its own circuit, and separated from a portion of the room with computer/electronics/battery backup UPS on its own circuit. I am about to learn how difficult it is to fish wire to wallbox locations that are to be configured to their own circuit breaker in the expanded panel. This new-to-me house was built in upstate NY in 1960 and it has 4 bathrooms - none of which has a wallbox outlet to offer electricity to the room other than a single accessory receptacle found in the end of a fluorescent lamp fixture above the sink basins. Usually circuits that exclusively traced as wall outlets are discriminated from ceiling light circuits. I am not inclined to be adding circuits units to the 200A panel, so I will acknowledge my limitations and hire a licensed electrician. Maybe he will allow me to assist with the mundane wiring of the receptacles in the wallboxes.
Yes, though it would be overkill unless you want to future/fool proof. 14AWG for 15 amp circuit, 12AWG for 20 amp circuit. Cable length is also a consideration once you exceed 50 feet.
Aluminum oxide is not flammable. You’re correct that the problem was aluminum oxide but it wasn’t a problem because it was flammable but rather it created resistance. Resistance leads to heat and fire.
vancester1st How sure that aluminum oxide was the real problem? My understanding is that copper when heated and cooled was the same size. Aluminum on the other hand when heated and under a screw would be smaller or looser when it cooled. Once loose enough, arcing began. It almost always happened at the receptacle in the circuit closest to the panel. Receptacles back then were designed for copper. Now some receptacles are designed for Cu/Al. And can be used on the old aluminum conductors.
@@KevinCoop1 the problem is galvanic corrosion. bare aluminum wires against coper receptacles have the potential to corrode that is where the loosening happens. not from heat/cooling expansion.
MrAwsomeshot As I believe you are correct, it is most likely both that cause the problem. The receptacles that always did this first were the one closest to the panel and were thru wired. Therefore it had the most amperes on it.
On a related note, as a counterpoint, an appliance rated and listed for installation on a branch protected by a 15A overcurrent device cannot be legally connected to an outlet on a branch protected with a 20A circuit breaker, in violation of the appliance manufacturer's instructions. I have seen new hard-wired boiler installations red-tagged for that violation. NEC (2017) 110.3(B).
UK electrician, if the protective device is 20amp everything after should be rated to this or higher. The fuse is the weak link to protect the rest of the system from overload.
@@douglasgreaves188 The difference between 15 A and 20 A receptacles is that the latter allows the use of 20 A devices (the horizontal neutral). You can have 15 A receptacles on a 20 A circuit provided there is at least two (a double one counts as two). You cannot have 20 A receptacles on a 15 A circuit as plugging a 20 A device would overload the circuit. I think equipment with 20 A plugs are rare.
Is perfectly suitable the part of 15 amp receptacle on the 20amp circuit , The burned up recepticle you had in your hand was due to a loose connection more than likely not an overload.
Not true! You can over amp a 15a receptacle on a 20a circuit since the 20a circuit breaker will not trip until you get over 20amps which is 5 amps more than the 15a receptacle is designed to handle.
@@Bootstrappin Not true! You can over amp a 15a receptacle on a 20a circuit since the 20a circuit breaker will not trip until you get over 20amps which is 5 amps more than the 15a receptacle is designed to handle.
@@Ron-no4tp You are obviously not an electrician. Greg berban is 100% correct. Unless the outlet is dedicated, it is recommended to use 15 amp outlets. you can upgrade the wire but not downgrade. It's common sense. burned 15 amp outlets are caused by loose wiring. It's not an opinion, it's a fact. All new constructions use 12 Gauge wiring with multiple 15 amp outlets per breaker, except for the dedicated Gfci's. those need to be dedicated 20 amp to avoid tripping and overheating the outlet because some microwaves and portable ovens draw almost 15 amps.
@@lionkingdom777 I have been an electrician since 1972. Why do you suppose 20a receptacles cost more than 15a? I’ll tell you why. I once loaded up a 15a receptacle on a 20a circuit with Xmas lights to just under where another string would trip the breaker. Guess what? After about 5 hours the 15a receptacle started to melt down and smoke. 15a receptacles aren’t designed to handle more than 1800w for long periods of time. 20a receptacles are designed to handle up to 2400w. The screws were on plenty tight because I was the one that installed the receptacle. I know code will allow 15a receptacles on 20a circuits but I won’t do it. I have also heard that most 15a receptacles are really only rated to handle 12a. At any rate I was considering petitioning the national electric code because it truly is not safe and under the right conditions it WILL cause a fire.
15 amp outlets are actually fine in 20 amp circuits. It's actually pretty common, especially in cases where many of the receptacles in the run are expected to be in use at one time as to not trip the breaker.
Agreed. I have seen many outlets overheated that were on 15 amp circuits. It is not so mush the amperage being used as it is loose connections. It is not a bad idea to replace outlets and switches that are getting old, or at least go through and tighten the screws down.
The only difference in the outlets is that you cannot plug a 20 A plug in a 15 A outlet. Sometimes the actual outlet is identical i.e. there are 20 A contacts but the face plate is just different. Since 20 A plugs are extremely rare there is no practical difference between them. The 20 A socket does, however, serve as a visual indicator that it is a 20 A circuit.
I would not use any of the inexpensive residential 15 amp receptacles wired in series on a 20 amp circuit unless the wires were pig tailed. They are not designed to pass through more than 15 amps. However the commercial grade receptacles and all GFCI receptacles can safely pass 20 amps and can safely be wired in series on a 20 amp circuit. To pigtail or not to pigtail depends on whether you have enough room in the box to fit splices and wire nuts and your own personal preference.
Thank you. In retrospect, I'd exercise caution because they'll leave metal shavings all the same, so it'd be wise to vacuum out the junction box after using them.
Dave Kuebler please do not do anything he showed in this video im a real electrician and this is a #1 way to burn down your house if you want to know how to do it the proper way let me know
Listen to @construction guy. He's my brother. You notice the video guy is showing you a workaround to fix a previous workaround that caught on fire inside a wall. Not sure if unsafe is additive or multiplicative but these methods are either unsafe + unsafe or unsafe X unsafe. I'm thinking the former if your own workbench and latter if it's someone else's house.
Thanks for this video. I am currently attempting to purchase a house build in 1920. I need to convert pretty much all of the outlets from two prong to 3 ground. I thought that I would have to rewire the whole house. I definitely had the wrong idea
@@Bootstrappin there is some knob & tube wiring. I am unsure of how much of it is still that way but soem of it is there for sure. there are three floors and a basement and it can be seen in the attic for the third floor. I guess that I will have to knock out some plaster
Good safe video with proper instructions and advice don't watch the others this is the video you want/need if you are looking to replace your 2 prongers to 3!
This only works of the box is grounded. In many older homes with a 2 wire system especially knob and tube it is rare to find a grounded box. In my old 1948 house I just ran Gfci s as replacements where practical or when it was to challenging to run new romex back to panel.
In my dad's 1956 house, with cloth-covered 2-conductor cables, someone had run an "extra" grounding wire to the receptacles that needed to be grounding type.
That doesn't sound right. 30A would probably cook it in a hurry. As for 10AWG it'd be a real struggle to get it to fit, with no benefit since everything should be determined by the size of your breaker, usually only 15 or 20 amps.
How does screwing the ground wire into the back of the box actually ground it? I have to replace a lot of these 2 prongs in my house and I want to make sure it's actually grounded when I do it.
Grab a tester and cross check the Black (hot)wire to the copper wire, do this carefully with the power on, if it lights up, your box is grounded, you're are good to go!
@@Bootstrappin I love you well informed you are about making videos that are safe to post to help others. Especially mentioning the internal grounding strip. From a safety standpoint. Required for AC cable in 1959, correct me if I'm off. The problem is, some types of older AC type called BX cable, did not have that internal bonding strip, and in very rare cases, I have personally never witnessed it myself, but some of my fellow electricians know someone who has seen a situation where the old bx cable sheathing heated up enough to start a fire during a fault to ground situation, the sheath most likely was damaged or rusted and had enough resistance to test as grounded with a test light (like you did) but did not draw enough current to blow the fuse (perhaps an oversize fuse/fuse bypassed with a penny) but enough current flowed on the other cable sheath to heat up like a toaster element (he described the joist had been charred where the cable had been stapled) and found during a remodel. Just another thing to be aware of
@@Bootstrappin you are probably good using the cable sheath as a ground. Based on the breaker box (assuming it was original to the house) and the wood wall paneling with the two prong outlets the home was probably built sometime in the mid to late 1950s or early 1960s, just before the requirement for grounded receptacles
I have this type of outlet behind a shelf in my kitchen I sometimes use what I need to use out there from that outlet and I haven’t replaced it because I Savage
Ancient tandem/parallel outlet. Can accept NEMA 1-15P, 1-20P (120V) , 2-15P or 2-20P (240V) A 5-20P, 6-15P or 6-20P with the ground pin removed will also fit. Because of the dangers of improper voltage these outlets have been banned for decades. In the earlier part of the 20th century, particularly the roaring 20s when home appliances became increasingly available and affordable for the middle class, before the industry settled on NEMA standards, there were actually two versions of plugs, the parallel, which is now 1-15P, and the tandem, which is now 2-15P, and they were used interchangeably depending on who designed the lamp or appliance. In turn it became a common practice for homes to have these funky T slot outlets, to allow that new fangled clothes iron or vacuum cleaner to be easily used, regardless of manufacturer. Virtually all of these outlets were hooked up to 120 volts, with some rare exceptions. In a large office building, for example, they may have been 240V, for large fans, high power lighting. Some light bulbs were 240 volt rated, and both plug types could have been used. You had to know the voltage supply, and plug in at your own risk. Isn't NEMA standards so romantic? 😘
I'm impressed at the depth of your knowledge of NEMA standards history. Definitely either a master electrician or EE lol. I'm sure it was quite a spectacle to plug your 120V appliance unwittingly into a 240V outlet.
@@Bootstrappin thank you for your kind words. I'm a journeyman planning to get my masters next fall. As for my knowledge, last year I was going through the estate after my great grandmother passed on. In her attic, was a Graybar Electric catalog, 1926-'27, which had all kinds of nonstandard plugs and receptacles. Tandem, (--) Parallel ( || ) Polarized (| I or - |) two versions of polarized were shown. Also available at that time were edison screw shell plugs and receptacles. The edison receptacle was basically a medium base lamp socket on the wall, with a brass flapper that you flip up to screw a cord with a screw shell plug in (tamper resistant outlets anyone😵?) I guess they called it the roaring twenties because everyone was so excited to have that fancy waffle iron or Hoover vacuum cleaner , and they didn't think safety first, besides flappers, prohibition, silent films then the talkies later in the decade, and organized crime. Must have been a very interesting decade to grow up in 😁
I use tape when adding a plug in a metal box so when u push ur plug in the wall it wont arc on the ground wire not bending across one of the set screws
Quite possible, you have to have metal cabling which provides the ground path. If not, you can swap to a GFCI outlet and label it "no equipment ground". That's acceptable too.
Hi, your explain is so clear, I love it! In addition, my mom’s house is 1950’s. I could not find ground wire in the boxes and when I tested it, it showed me middle and right lights on. What is this mean? It is good? Some electrical recommended me, we have to re-wire house. I really confused it.
Nice video man... my understanding is load and feed make no difference top or bottom as they are both connected to the same plate.. you can have a hot load at top and neutral load at bottom and same with feed and they will work maybe industry standard says bottom load and pop the flat head top off he screwdriver and use the 5/16 bit holder instead it should hold easy you can rub a magnet on it or leave it to get it to hold better.. again good job man
@@Bootstrappin First of all you need to find out which outlet is the most upstream one and connect the feeding cable to Source, so all the downstream/Load will be protected as well. You need to find out which pair lines is the feeding cable in your video, otherwise Gfci would not protect it if you put the feeding pair at Load, but the downstream outlets would be protected. BTW, the added ground wire is not really grounding, so you need to put a label to indicate "Gfci protected but not grounded" for all outlets in this chain, including the GFCI one..
Thank you for the video! Just bought a house loaded with old 2 prong outlets, but newer 3 prong upstairs. Need to convert some of these over to run a couple of window AC units.
@@Bootstrappin I know you know this: If you don't have ground and don't have armored cable you can still legally replace a two-prong with a three-prong GFCI receptacle. Also, to consider whether an A/C unit pulls "too much power" for the existing wiring and its overcurrent protection (e.g., de-rated by 20 percent for continuous use, i.e., maximum current for 3 hours or more).
I usually would err on the side of using a smaller rated outlet, such as 15 amp. If the wiring is 12 gauge and the circuit breaker is 15, use 15 amp outlets also, and be relatively confident you won't have heat problems in your wiring. Over built. I'd also go with a GFCI instead of using a grounding strip. If the outlet isn't grounded at the panel, I think that's the safest way to minimize risk of fire or shock.
I have two prongs. When I pull the outlet out there are black white and red wires. Does the red mean it is a switched receptacle? Also how do I know if my cabling is armored or my box has a grounding plate
the older BX cable connected to the metal outlet gang box isnt technically grounded at all(so pig tail isnt enough), if there is any connection the the breaker box it is a danger, even IF the upgrade was to ground the breaker box to the earth it would still result in a shock(from the breaker box) if there was a short. Use a sheathed green whatever gauge ground wire to pig tail from each outlet and earth ground, only way
The inside of a 15 amp and a 20 amp duplex receptacle are identical. Only the face cover is different. More than likely that melted receptacle was caused by a loose screw on that wire. If the associated breaker is correctly sized for the wire it will trip before melting the wire. Take one apart and see.
I tape mine for 3 reasons: -yes, to work on while it's hot -if a wire should somehow rattle loose, the tape MIGHT be enough to keep in in place and not shorting -if for some reason the cover plate is off, it's a little bit of protection (for example, when painting a wall) It takes very little time to tape one up.
You should do some research. You can't use a 20 amp outlet with a 14 gauge wire but you can certainly use a 15 amp outlet with a 12 gauge wire. It's actually recommended to use 15 amp outlets when running several outlets on one 20 amp breaker. The only time you are better off with a 20 amp outlet is if it is dedicated.
To put it another way, the gauge of wire determines the maximum current allowed in the branch overcurrent protection device. The receptacle devices may be either 15 or 20 on a 12-gauge branch.
The damaged receptacle you showed was damaged due to a loose screw at that connection point and the high resistance caused it to overheat. Has nothing to do with the rating of the receptacle. And Aluminum oxide is NOT flammable. The reason aluminum wiring caused fires was again high resistance connections due to corrosion where the dissimilar metals(copper and aluminum) connected together.
I guess you didn't watch the video? Metal box, attached to metal sheath, further grounded to bonding strip, all attached back to the ground bar at the panel, verified with an outlet tester.
I would say somebody popped in a new 20 a breaker not paying attention to the outlets. But why the 12 gauge? I like the way you still assume there is voltage on the outlet. Very wise. I think I'd use a nut driver for that ground screw.
That black outlet you replaced is 240.... Two sideways pins is 15amp 240v.... that one has both horizontal and vertical so it’s 20amp 240v. The problem with aluminum isn’t the oxide flammable. It’s that alumum expands and contracts and works loose. Also issues with the first generation of alloys used in bus bars like the Zinsco panels.
But you still have voltage drop in todays works even in 2019 national standard dictates that you should have wire nutted the two black wires with a pig tail to the outlet itself along with the white wires as well. But kudos for actually grounding the outlet
Yes having a good electrician friend is always good to have. I’m just having trouble understanding the logic behind the setup. If I can’t understand it then leave it alone or go about it another way that I understand. My neighbor recently told me that if you install gfci circuits in the breaker box it will basically do what I think you’re talking about. But unclear about what he’s telling me too
@@NA-xm7wj I see what he's saying. NEC says that if making a ground path like I did isn't feasible, you can install a GFCI outlet and label it "no ground". Not sure about what a GFCI breaker would do though.
Important detail: you MUST have a grounding strip inside your armored cable, also known as Type AC cable. You should be able to spot it when you open the cover of your outlet, it's a bare tin plated steel wire. You might have better luck spotting it where the cable enters your electrical panel. See NEC 250.118 Sections 8 & 9: (8) Flexible metallic tubing where the tubing is terminated in fittings listed for grounding and meeting the following conditions: a. The circuit conductors contained in the tubing are protected by overcurrent devices rated at 20 amperes or less. b. The combined length of flexible metal conduit and flexible metallic tubing and liquidtight flexible metal conduit in the same ground return path does not exceed 1.8 m (6 ft). (9) Armor of Type AC cable with an additional equipment grounding conductor and as provided in 320.108. See an example here: activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/2/5/9/2/ar1364321329522.jpg
That wire is called bonding wire and it is usually a tin plated steel wire not aluminum. Having 15A receptacle on 20A circuit is not what caused your receptacle to burn. 15A receptacles are rated for 20A pass through. It is usually due to a loose or corroded connection. It is perfectly fine to have 15A receptacles on 20A given that you have more than 1 on the circuit (a duplex receptacle counts as 2).
Why would your armored cable have a grounding wire or "bonding wire" inside of it if your house had only two prong outlets? If they were running that ground wire to every outlet, seems like they would've just grounded all the receptacles to begin with. What am I missing?
@@bmfitzgerald3 Devices weren't grounded and likewise grounded outlets didn't exist when the house was first built. Grounds were intended to protect against loose or faulty connections inside the boxes and were much more of an ad-hoc thing than nowadays or even a couple of decades post-construction
How can I find a good electrician who will know what to do and actually do it? My mother's old house has 2 prong outlets all over that need to be swapped out and probably checked to make sure they have the right outlets for the right switches.
Correct me if I am wrong, but when you screw the receptacle into that metal box, that would ground it without using the added wire, if the box is grounded.(unnecessary work) Maybe just gives you a piece of mind. In fact the adapters give you a green wire to connect to the cover screw for grounding, once again if the box is grounded.
Technically correct if the shell of the outlet is connected directly to the ground prong, but not good enough to be code compliant, and you don't want to rely on screws of unknown conductivity.
Oh man silly me indeed. Aside from that stuff being so old that it just needs to be replaced, I suppose you could stick GFCI outlets everywhere and call it a day.
Im doing this in my house and before doing any of this, i tested for ground with my multimeter. I measured hot to ground by putting the red probe in the hot prong and put the black probe on the inside of the metal box. This gave me 30v on one of my outlets. The others were showing 120v. Why is one of my boxes improperly grounded? How can i fix this?
For what its worth if the cable entering the box is BX or metal sheathing & the 30v you got was definitely from hot to ground (hot being a black or red color wire on the darker colored screws of the outlet also the smaller size of the 2 flat blades or prongs) & neutral to ground (white or lighter colored wire & the longer of the 2 blades or prongs) to ground cause you can get several crazy volts off a neutral to ground test which would depend on anything from an actual switched outlet or a fridge or celing fan on that same circut but way back when they actually had gas lighting & chandeliers (now a large round decorative tin or copper plate with like an eggplant shaped cover in the middle of it) but back then wall switches would control an outlet in a roon ment say for a lamp but then there's the some one just screwed up the wiring along that circut meaning hot & neutral is reversed somewhere but again if its a metal covered cable in the box & its secured to the box properly it should be the 110/120volts to ground or to neutral but as i stated in another comment the 2 screws that actually secure the outlet to the box (if metal cable is used) is gunna ground the outlet but also remember then if you remove the 2 (6-32) screws from the box then test the outlet for voltage from say the hot side or hot blade to the neutral side you will only get the 110 or 120v there but if you test the hot side to the botton (round) ground 3rd prong you wont get anything cause removing the outlet completely from the box only held on by the copper wires doing so removed the ground..ok hope this helps a little or if im to late hope you found out pretty much what i said ...good luck
Not many people are going to have MC cable running to a receptacle lol IMO using the jacket as a ground is not a good grounding source. Also, you should pigtail the outlet. The way you connected it will kill everything down the line if that 50cent outlet goes bad. If you’re not going to run a new line replace the 2-prong with a GFCI
Well, you can have a 15 amp rated receptacle on a 20 amp breaker. However, the idea behind that being allowed is that those receptacles won't exceed 80% of the receptacles amp rating which would 12 amps for a 15 amp rated receptacle.
There's nothing in a receptacle (15 or 20 amp in this case) to prevent 80% or more of the circuit current rating, it's just conductive material. The only way to control that is selecting the proper wire gauge for the circuit and/or limiting the number of simultaneous loads of significant power consumption.
@@surferdude642 I agree, but knowing that you shouldn’t exceed 80 of the receptacles amp rating would allow you to be conscious of what ur plugging into that receptacle to make sure the load(s) don’t exceed the 80% threshold.
That's a 20 amp residential grade receptacle and is inferior to a 15 amp spec grade receptacle which is what you should be using, if you verified that the metal box has a good ground. If not, you need a GFCI receptacle. There's no need for a 20 receptacle.
With no ground in the box, the ground "pig tail" is pointless. This type of rag wire has no ground wire so the box does not connect to ground. The electric code is very clear on how to deal with this. Replace it with a GFCI receptacle (which does not need a ground to protect from leakage current). A GFCI breaker will also work. If this had been armor cable or conduit, this method would have provided a ground path.
You're right about GFCI and armored cabling. Did you not watch the video? Armored cabling is what I had and explicitly said it is needed to make this a viable grounding method.
At that point the most economical thing to do is to replace the outlet with a GFCI outlet and put a sticker on it that says "no equipment ground" (this is 'to code'). The alternative is routing new 3 conductor cabling.
As far as I know, yes, but codes always change. This is a comment I wrote from a few years ago: Important detail: you MUST have a grounding strip inside your armored cable, also known as Type AC cable. You should be able to spot it when you open the cover of your outlet, it's a bare tin plated steel wire. You might have better luck spotting it where the cable enters your electrical panel. See NEC 250.118 Sections 8 & 9: (8) Flexible metallic tubing where the tubing is terminated in fittings listed for grounding and meeting the following conditions: a. The circuit conductors contained in the tubing are protected by overcurrent devices rated at 20 amperes or less. b. The combined length of flexible metal conduit and flexible metallic tubing and liquidtight flexible metal conduit in the same ground return path does not exceed 1.8 m (6 ft). (9) Armor of Type AC cable with an additional equipment grounding conductor and as provided in 320.108. See an example here: activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/2/5/9/2/ar1364321329522.jpg
Yeah it's a massive pain in the neck, and you'll probably find some nasty surprises. Be sure your armored cable is connected to ground at the panel. Otherwise, NEC states to replace all of them with GFCIs labeled with "no equipment ground".
No, not all old boxes are grounded. Like I said in the beginning of the video - I know mine is grounded because I have armored cabling (which is conductive) AND it has an internal bonding strip/conductor. You can also do a resistance check.
You cannot know if your metal outlet box is grounded or not just because you have metal conduit running toward or to it, always make sure it's truly ground.
I have that EXACT same 2 prong outlet! I have the ole ceramic post type wiring. It is impossible to run modern wire through the walls unless you rip out the antique walls to do it. And the lead paint under the paneling... I believe those old outlets were made out of Bakelite. VERY durable. Built to last nearly a lifetime. New outlets are made from CHEAP PLASTIC. Designed to last a scant few years. The old copper was MUCH stiffer than modern day. Wrapping the outlet with electrical tape was a safety issue. Just in case any screws loosened over time and touched the metal box. I thought you were supposed to have 6-8 inches of wire out the box. Your 6in ground wire is too short because 1-1/2 to 2" or so is inside the box. '
I would have gotten a standard (as opposed to Decora) brown receptacle and reused the original plate. The Decora and white doesn't match the original architecture.
It's because it's not have a ground and it was made in the 1950s Indo things do not exist I mean without the t they have those but they do not have the t
Actually if the outlet has the half slot coming from the middle of the vertical slot that would be a 20amp outlet google what a 20amp plug say on a real heavy duty vacume or other heavy duty appliance also if the BX cable is entered into the/A metal box properly as soon as you screw the outlet into the box with its 6-32 screws then POW your outlet is now grounded or should i say your 20 amp outlet is now properly grounded & you are right about the aluminum wire mostly used for a brief period in the early 70's but its burns like a fireworks fuse but they sell something called petrox that either is in a wire nut or a small squeeze bottle & anytime you splice copper to aluminum a few drops of it in/on the splice your good to go.. hope this helps someone a little...
I've been told unless you have a ground wire running to that box that is from the breaker panel in some way you are still not grounded because the box has no ground and that doing this is a fake ground
You mentioned if wire is 14 gauge and breaker is 20 amp, change the breaker to 15 amp. What if breaker is 15 amp and outlet is 15 amp, but wire is 12 gauge (copper wire, not aluminum wire)? Is it okay to leave breaker and outlet alone or is it necessary to upgrade breaker and outlet?
@@js4187 That would not be safe and therefore was NEVER legal. You can feed a subpanel with 30 A but a branch circuit using 12 or 14 AWG cannot have overcurrent protection in excess of 15 or 20 amps. Otherwise the wires can overheat for as long as it takes to start a fire, well before an oversized fuse or breaker opens.
Good day sir, how many volts will you get if you connect the voltmeter one lead to one hot terminal and the other probe to the ground socket, and also the N terminal to the ground socket? Tyi
Hard to see for sure with the low light in the video, but it appears there is the T receptacle on the neutral side. If so that would indicate it is indeed a 20 A device.
I moved into a house built in the 50s but some rooms were updated with 3 prongs some still have 2. Also we have a fuse box instead of a breaker box. Is it still safe to just change the outlets to 3 prongs or do I need to get rid of the fuse box?
That all depends, there's nothing wrong with a fuse box necessarily. In some ways fuses are superior safety wise to circuit breakers. But as for grounding, you'll have to inspect and see what you have, and if it can be reasonably modified to create a ground path back to your electrical panel, or whether you'll have to just install modern cabling.
@@frankpaya690 Code requirements: NEC Article 210.21(B)(1) Single Receptacle on an Individual Branch Circuit. A single receptacle installed on an individual branch circuit shall have an ampere rating not less than that of the branch circuit. Article 210.21 (B)(3) Permits the use of Table 210.21(B)(3) where the receptacles are connected to a branch circuit supplying two or more receptacles. Circuit Rating (Amperes) 20- Receptacle Rating (Amperes) 15 or 20
Great video. How did you find out if the box was grounded? Also, If the box is grounded why do you need a ground pigtail to outlet. Shouldn't the outlet be grounded by touching the metal box? Thanks!
@@wizard3z868 No, it's not "nec code". Some receptacles ALSO have a self-grounding feature in which the grounding contact is bonded to the mounting strap. Others require a pigtail to a screw. Some do both.
No, fiber is not conductive. If you have armored cabling going to a plastic/fiber box, you'd have to find a way to make a good mechanical connection to the metal cable sheath, I reckon.
@@Bootstrappin You cannot have armored cable and a plastic/fiber box. Any metallic cabling requires a metal box. You can use NM (Romex) in a metal or plastic box. Plastic boxes are for NM cable routed inside the wall.
I think that would be fine. I tried using those initially, but somehow the dimension was off (old box) and it didn't make a very secure connection, so I went with screws.
If your box is grounded and slightly recessed like this one you can break off the metal ears off the yoke and use them as shims between the receptacle and the box. You can add a short piece of ground wire (14 awg) to the back of the yoke and around the screw and the other end to the ground screw on the receptacle. Connect the hot and neutral last. Tighten your mounting screws firmly and you will have a solid ground.
Good information except for the fact that aluminum oxide is NOT flammable, it is just not a conductor. As aluminum oxide forms heat builds up because of the resistance.
![Complete Guide On Replacing/ Upgrading old 2 Prong Outlets [Short Wires, No Ground and more!]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/gwFTBDo9pKE/mqdefault.jpg)
![Complete Guide On Replacing/ Upgrading old 2 Prong Outlets [Short Wires, No Ground and more!]](/img/tr.png)
I just bought a condo built in 1961. It has two prong outlets throughout. I asked an electrician if I needed a complete rewiring to ground the outlets when upgrading to three prong. His answer was no, because in these buildings they used conduit which was grounded back to the main box, and I could just attach a ground wire from each receptacle to that. Thanks to your video, now I can see how that's done. Thank you!
DONE THAT!!!
Thank you for the simple and concise way to correct this problem with "vintage" houses from the 1950's. I have watched several video's, and yours just said..."do this" and you will be good! No endless babble and background. No need to make things more complex than they are!!
Agreed... If you have armored grounded cabling, the solution is pretty straightforward!
You can certainly install a 15 amp outlet on a 20amp circuit. You CANNOT install a 20 amp outlet on a 15amp circuit. This guy needs to get his facts straight. I would not trust anything he says.
Thank you. This is a good, rather thorough review.
The electrical codes vary from state to state, and at different locations within a state.
I removed a broken and unsafe duplex receptacle left by the previous owners, then listened to several certified electricians.
I could not get a good ground by tying or screwing a ground lead to the box, so I installed a GFCI in the first duplex receptacle of a chain of six receptacles. This on the advice of several electricians.
This has served us well for the last three years or more.
It is best to get the advice of a good electrician before doing any electrical work, even if you think you know what you are doing. Be safe.
Thank you, again.
So instead of running a ground wire, you just put in a GFCI without a ground? I'm in that situation...
what is considered a good ground
@@shakes13t i didnt see the part in the video that showed the box itself was properly grounded. if it wasnt grounded then that ground wire he installed there is useless
@@tanyaortega5291 He said that it was wired with metal sheathed cable. That may or may not satisfy your inspector.
I remember as a kid my father taught me, white wire goes to silver screws. You can remember because the Lone Ranger's horse was white but his name was silver. So white goes to silver.
Actually, you're allowed by code to use 15amp receptacles on a 20amp branch circuit.
James is right
James is right and this guy is totally wrong on outlet size. He backwards on that
This is true, but the premise is of anticipated loads in the circuit of convenience receptacles. The 20A receptacle for a known specific load like an A/C unit should get the 20A receptacle.
@@Alphasig336 He's not backward, but incomplete. 20A receptacles may be excede the current of a 15A circuit, but 20A receptacles cannot used since they signal false capacity.
That's what I thought and I'm not even an electrician.
Geez Bootstrap....after reading all the crap comments,I’ll bet your sorry you ever posted this...? But this is EXACTLY how I changed my 2’s to 3’s, because I also have armored cable.My house was built in1930’s,and I changed the outlets in the 1980’s...With four teenage daughters back then using hair dryers,boom boxes, and window A/C’s, we’ve never had any problems....keep up the good work....
Haha guess that's what you sign up for when you put yourself on the internet. And if your house can withstand four teenagers, then it can withstand anything!
My house was built in 1958. It had the BX metal cased wire through the whole house. Metal utility boxes were there and they had a threaded hole in them. I used that threaded hole for the ground anchor screw. I changed every plug.
Camera work aside (maybe get a small tripod or stand for more steady recording) this has been the most helpful video I found. You instruction on how to create a grounding wire down to the type of screw to use is what I needed. Thank u very much 👍🏾
An easy fix is to replace it with a GFCI receptacle and put a No Equipment Ground sticker on the cover plate. If you had more 2 prongs on the same circuit then find the home run receptacle, replace it with a GFCI but wire it so all the rest of the receptacles are on the load side of the GFCI. If its residential replace all the receptacles with Tamper Resistant receptacles. Put GFCI Protected & No Equipment Ground stickers on those face plates. This is code compliant but yes it's better to pull a ground wire if possible.
Sure GFCI is great but I want equipment grounding. If I don't have metal cabling I assume I'd need to run all new wires?
@@philadler7399 yes you would
@@philadler7399 unless there is a ground from the wire attached directly to the box. keep the box grounded add the grounding screw to the box and a ground pigtail to the outlet.
@@mikemoyercell just to clarify, if the outlet box is plastic, with no ground wire running from the panel, should you do the following:
1. change the plastic outlet box to a metal one
2. screw a 6” copper ground wire into the metal box
3. purchase and install a gfci with a ground screw, then connect the newly added ground wire to the gfci
Is this the safe way to upgrade your ungrounded 2 prong oulet to a grounded for equipment 3 prong gfci?
Thank you I enjoyed the video nice to hear someone that can give accurate information so many people making videos don’t know what they’re doing
Most electricians are on par, adamantly and for good reason(s).
Good helpful video. Also good pointing out that the cable MUST have the ground strip integral to the AC cable. My best friend has been an electrician for almost 20 something odd years, and he was telling me a story about a service call involving an old house that had a mixture of knob and tube wiring, and fair amount of the older type of AC cable without the ground strip. The homeowner had installed some 3 slot type receptacles ground to the metal box just like you did. When a certain appliance was plugged in at times the homeowner would feel a tingle while touching the refrigerator, and also smelled burning wood at different times. My friend had found a section of the old AC cable that had rusted in the damp basement and had heated up due to a fault traveling on the armor and was beginning to char the joist where it was stapled to, but the 15 amp glass base fuse never blew.
And that's an outstanding point. Even with the right cable type, there's always that risk, so I should probably add a note for people to inspect the condition of the jacket. Even then, a rusted out portion may very well be hiding behind a wall.
@@Bootstrappin thats a nice house you got. I love the old pine wood wall paneling. Just curious, roughly what was the year of the build? I noticed in the video there was a more modern circuit breaker panel rather than the old type with the Edison base fuses and cartridge fuses typical of a home with two prong ungrounded receptacles. Or was the breaker box installed later ?
@@Sparky-ww5re thank you -- it was built in the early 1960s. The breaker panel seems original to me.
@@Bootstrappin If a newer 200A panel has been installed, what is the logic in running new ROMEX on a pair of 15A runs to a circuit that had two rooms on one circuit? The new circuits could allow an Air Conditioner (window unit) on its own circuit, and separated from a portion of the room with computer/electronics/battery backup UPS on its own circuit. I am about to learn how difficult it is to fish wire to wallbox locations that are to be configured to their own circuit breaker in the expanded panel. This new-to-me house was built in upstate NY in 1960 and it has 4 bathrooms - none of which has a wallbox outlet to offer electricity to the room other than a single accessory receptacle found in the end of a fluorescent lamp fixture above the sink basins. Usually circuits that exclusively traced as wall outlets are discriminated from ceiling light circuits.
I am not inclined to be adding circuits units to the 200A panel, so I will acknowledge my limitations and hire a licensed electrician. Maybe he will allow me to assist with the mundane wiring of the receptacles in the wallboxes.
@@Bootstrappin A glass plug fuse or a circuit breaker isn't an arc fault circuit interrupter.
Very helpful info. Especially about 12gauge for 20amp and not 15.
Yes, though it would be overkill unless you want to future/fool proof. 14AWG for 15 amp circuit, 12AWG for 20 amp circuit. Cable length is also a consideration once you exceed 50 feet.
Aluminum oxide is not flammable. You’re correct that the problem was aluminum oxide but it wasn’t a problem because it was flammable but rather it created resistance. Resistance leads to heat and fire.
Ah yeah, you're right about that.
vancester1st How sure that aluminum oxide was the real problem? My understanding is that copper when heated and cooled was the same size. Aluminum on the other hand when heated and under a screw would be smaller or looser when it cooled. Once loose enough, arcing began. It almost always happened at the receptacle in the circuit closest to the panel. Receptacles back then were designed for copper. Now some receptacles are designed for Cu/Al. And can be used on the old aluminum conductors.
@@KevinCoop1 the problem is galvanic corrosion. bare aluminum wires against coper receptacles have the potential to corrode that is where the loosening happens. not from heat/cooling expansion.
MrAwsomeshot As I believe you are correct, it is most likely both that cause the problem. The receptacles that always did this first were the one closest to the panel and were thru wired. Therefore it had the most amperes on it.
So it’s still a fire hazard and still has to be removed? Glad you made that distinction 🤔
The electrical tape around the screws is to prevent shorting to the metal box.
15 amp is asking for less then what its getting so its allowed. Only 20 amp on 15 amp circuit is code violation
On a related note, as a counterpoint, an appliance rated and listed for installation on a branch protected by a 15A overcurrent device cannot be legally connected to an outlet on a branch protected with a 20A circuit breaker, in violation of the appliance manufacturer's instructions. I have seen new hard-wired boiler installations red-tagged for that violation. NEC (2017) 110.3(B).
UK electrician, if the protective device is 20amp everything after should be rated to this or higher. The fuse is the weak link to protect the rest of the system from overload.
@@douglasgreaves188 The difference between 15 A and 20 A receptacles is that the latter allows the use of 20 A devices (the horizontal neutral). You can have 15 A receptacles on a 20 A circuit provided there is at least two (a double one counts as two). You cannot have 20 A receptacles on a 15 A circuit as plugging a 20 A device would overload the circuit. I think equipment with 20 A plugs are rare.
I really enjoyed that cat part.
She helps me with all my projects
Never do anything without the cat space cartel's approval. You asking for serious trouble if you don't.
Subscribing, for the cat.
I would die for that cat!
Is perfectly suitable the part of 15 amp receptacle on the 20amp circuit , The burned up recepticle you had in your hand was due to a loose connection more than likely not an overload.
Yeah that's probably true
Not true! You can over amp a 15a receptacle on a 20a circuit since the 20a circuit breaker will not trip until you get over 20amps which is 5 amps more than the 15a receptacle is designed to handle.
@@Bootstrappin Not true! You can over amp a 15a receptacle on a 20a circuit since the 20a circuit breaker will not trip until you get over 20amps which is 5 amps more than the 15a receptacle is designed to handle.
@@Ron-no4tp You are obviously not an electrician. Greg berban is 100% correct. Unless the outlet is dedicated, it is recommended to use 15 amp outlets. you can upgrade the wire but not downgrade. It's common sense. burned 15 amp outlets are caused by loose wiring. It's not an opinion, it's a fact. All new constructions use 12 Gauge wiring with multiple 15 amp outlets per breaker, except for the dedicated Gfci's. those need to be dedicated 20 amp to avoid tripping and overheating the outlet because some microwaves and portable ovens draw almost 15 amps.
@@lionkingdom777 I have been an electrician since 1972. Why do you suppose 20a receptacles cost more than 15a? I’ll tell you why. I once loaded up a 15a receptacle on a 20a circuit with Xmas lights to just under where another string would trip the breaker. Guess what? After about 5 hours the 15a receptacle started to melt down and smoke. 15a receptacles aren’t designed to handle more than 1800w for long periods of time. 20a receptacles are designed to handle up to 2400w. The screws were on plenty tight because I was the one that installed the receptacle. I know code will allow 15a receptacles on 20a circuits but I won’t do it. I have also heard that most 15a receptacles are really only rated to handle 12a. At any rate I was considering petitioning the national electric code because it truly is not safe and under the right conditions it WILL cause a fire.
I remember the cable goes black with B, brass, and white goes with silver.
15 amp outlets are actually fine in 20 amp circuits. It's actually pretty common, especially in cases where many of the receptacles in the run are expected to be in use at one time as to not trip the breaker.
Agreed. I have seen many outlets overheated that were on 15 amp circuits. It is not so mush the amperage being used as it is loose connections. It is not a bad idea to replace outlets and switches that are getting old, or at least go through and tighten the screws down.
@@notredo Very true.
The only difference in the outlets is that you cannot plug a 20 A plug in a 15 A outlet. Sometimes the actual outlet is identical i.e. there are 20 A contacts but the face plate is just different. Since 20 A plugs are extremely rare there is no practical difference between them.
The 20 A socket does, however, serve as a visual indicator that it is a 20 A circuit.
I would not use any of the inexpensive residential 15 amp receptacles wired in series on a 20 amp circuit unless the wires were pig tailed. They are not designed to pass through more than 15 amps. However the commercial grade receptacles and all GFCI receptacles can safely pass 20 amps and can safely be wired in series on a 20 amp circuit. To pigtail or not to pigtail depends on whether you have enough room in the box to fit splices and wire nuts and your own personal preference.
Good video, I didn't know about self tapping ground screws now I do, thanks.
Thank you. In retrospect, I'd exercise caution because they'll leave metal shavings all the same, so it'd be wise to vacuum out the junction box after using them.
Dave Kuebler please do not do anything he showed in this video im a real electrician and this is a #1 way to burn down your house if you want to know how to do it the proper way let me know
Listen to @construction guy. He's my brother. You notice the video guy is showing you a workaround to fix a previous workaround that caught on fire inside a wall. Not sure if unsafe is additive or multiplicative but these methods are either unsafe + unsafe or unsafe X unsafe. I'm thinking the former if your own workbench and latter if it's someone else's house.
@@summer-west sir this is a Wendy's
Thanks for this video. I am currently attempting to purchase a house build in 1920. I need to convert pretty much all of the outlets from two prong to 3 ground. I thought that I would have to rewire the whole house. I definitely had the wrong idea
If it's original 1920s wiring then it's likely to be knob and tube wiring which can't be grounded. What kind of wiring does it have?
@@Bootstrappin there is some knob & tube wiring. I am unsure of how much of it is still that way but soem of it is there for sure. there are three floors and a basement and it can be seen in the attic for the third floor. I guess that I will have to knock out some plaster
Before doing this at least make sure your box is grounded itself, otherwise it’s useless. If you don’t know, just install a GFCI outlet
“And of course get it inspected by a cat”, lmao!!
Good safe video with proper instructions and advice don't watch the others this is the video you want/need if you are looking to replace your 2 prongers to 3!
What if the wires are romex?
This only works of the box is grounded. In many older homes with a 2 wire system especially knob and tube it is rare to find a grounded box. In my old 1948 house I just ran Gfci s as replacements where practical or when it was to challenging to run new romex back to panel.
In my dad's 1956 house, with cloth-covered 2-conductor cables, someone had run an "extra" grounding wire to the receptacles that needed to be grounding type.
Have you ever thought about using the ohm meter across the neutral and the ground. Just in case a plastic junction has been installed somewhere.
It's a great idea, will definitely give you a good clue if it's working properly. I assume the outlet tester works on the same principle.
I always test the ground by putting a 100 watt light bulb between the hot and the ground to make sure it will carry a load if necessary.
That's a really solid idea, I think I might add it to the pinned comment among other user contributed ideas. Thank you!
@@Bootstrappin ,question for you. On a 15 amp outlet, is it not rated for 15 amps each outlet? If I am not mistaken it will accept 10 gauge wire.
That doesn't sound right. 30A would probably cook it in a hurry. As for 10AWG it'd be a real struggle to get it to fit, with no benefit since everything should be determined by the size of your breaker, usually only 15 or 20 amps.
How does screwing the ground wire into the back of the box actually ground it? I have to replace a lot of these 2 prongs in my house and I want to make sure it's actually grounded when I do it.
It doesn't unless you can verify that you have armored cabling with an internal grounding strip going all the way back to your breaker panel.
Grab a tester and cross check the Black (hot)wire to the copper wire, do this carefully with the power on, if it lights up, your box is grounded, you're are good to go!
@@Bootstrappin I love you well informed you are about making videos that are safe to post to help others. Especially mentioning the internal grounding strip. From a safety standpoint. Required for AC cable in 1959, correct me if I'm off. The problem is, some types of older AC type called BX cable, did not have that internal bonding strip, and in very rare cases, I have personally never witnessed it myself, but some of my fellow electricians know someone who has seen a situation where the old bx cable sheathing heated up enough to start a fire during a fault to ground situation, the sheath most likely was damaged or rusted and had enough resistance to test as grounded with a test light (like you did) but did not draw enough current to blow the fuse (perhaps an oversize fuse/fuse bypassed with a penny) but enough current flowed on the other cable sheath to heat up like a toaster element (he described the joist had been charred where the cable had been stapled) and found during a remodel. Just another thing to be aware of
@@Bootstrappin you are probably good using the cable sheath as a ground. Based on the breaker box (assuming it was original to the house) and the wood wall paneling with the two prong outlets the home was probably built sometime in the mid to late 1950s or early 1960s, just before the requirement for grounded receptacles
In CA, by code if your box is metal it has to be connected back to your ground.
I have this type of outlet behind a shelf in my kitchen I sometimes use what I need to use out there from that outlet and I haven’t replaced it because I Savage
Those savages and their two pronged outlets! Three prong gang 4lyf.
Excellent video! I learned a lot. Thank you!
Happy I could help!
Ancient tandem/parallel outlet. Can accept NEMA 1-15P, 1-20P (120V) , 2-15P or 2-20P (240V) A 5-20P, 6-15P or 6-20P with the ground pin removed will also fit. Because of the dangers of improper voltage these outlets have been banned for decades.
In the earlier part of the 20th century, particularly the roaring 20s when home appliances became increasingly available and affordable for the middle class, before the industry settled on NEMA standards, there were actually two versions of plugs, the parallel, which is now 1-15P, and the tandem, which is now 2-15P, and they were used interchangeably depending on who designed the lamp or appliance. In turn it became a common practice for homes to have these funky T slot outlets, to allow that new fangled clothes iron or vacuum cleaner to be easily used, regardless of manufacturer.
Virtually all of these outlets were hooked up to 120 volts, with some rare exceptions. In a large office building, for example, they may have been 240V, for large fans, high power lighting. Some light bulbs were 240 volt rated, and both plug types could have been used. You had to know the voltage supply, and plug in at your own risk. Isn't NEMA standards so romantic? 😘
I'm impressed at the depth of your knowledge of NEMA standards history. Definitely either a master electrician or EE lol. I'm sure it was quite a spectacle to plug your 120V appliance unwittingly into a 240V outlet.
@@Bootstrappin thank you for your kind words. I'm a journeyman planning to get my masters next fall. As for my knowledge, last year I was going through the estate after my great grandmother passed on. In her attic, was a Graybar Electric catalog, 1926-'27, which had all kinds of nonstandard plugs and receptacles. Tandem,
(--) Parallel ( || ) Polarized (| I or - |) two versions of polarized were shown. Also available at that time were edison screw shell plugs and receptacles. The edison receptacle was basically a medium base lamp socket on the wall, with a brass flapper that you flip up to screw a cord with a screw shell plug in (tamper resistant outlets anyone😵?) I guess they called it the roaring twenties because everyone was so excited to have that fancy waffle iron or Hoover vacuum cleaner , and they didn't think safety first, besides flappers, prohibition, silent films then the talkies later in the decade, and organized crime. Must have been a very interesting decade to grow up in 😁
I use tape when adding a plug in a metal box so when u push ur plug in the wall it wont arc on the ground wire not bending across one of the set screws
I did the same thing and the tester showed "no ground". Is that because your metal outlet box is grounded by the breakers panel and mine is not?
Quite possible, you have to have metal cabling which provides the ground path. If not, you can swap to a GFCI outlet and label it "no equipment ground". That's acceptable too.
Hi, your explain is so clear, I love it! In addition, my mom’s house is 1950’s. I could not find ground wire in the boxes and when I tested it, it showed me middle and right lights on. What is this mean? It is good? Some electrical recommended me, we have to re-wire house. I really confused it.
slide the tip of the screw driver on a old speaker magnet it will make magnetic
The old outlet is a 20 amp outlet(thus the horizontal left lug)
Not necessarily. It had BOTH slots with the horizontal, which could have also been used at15A or 20A at 250 volts, as with NEMA 2-15P or 2-20P cords.
Nice video man... my understanding is load and feed make no difference top or bottom as they are both connected to the same plate.. you can have a hot load at top and neutral load at bottom and same with feed and they will work maybe industry standard says bottom load and pop the flat head top off he screwdriver and use the 5/16 bit holder instead it should hold easy you can rub a magnet on it or leave it to get it to hold better.. again good job man
Thank you! Yeah not sure if convention or rule. I just copy whatever was already there, unless it seems dangerous.
@@Bootstrappin
First of all you need to find out which outlet is the most upstream one and connect the feeding cable to Source, so all the downstream/Load will be protected as well.
You need to find out which pair lines is the feeding cable in your video, otherwise Gfci would not protect it if you put the feeding pair at Load, but the downstream outlets would be protected.
BTW, the added ground wire is not really grounding, so you need to put a label to indicate "Gfci protected but not grounded" for all outlets in this chain, including the GFCI one..
Thank you for the video! Just bought a house loaded with old 2 prong outlets, but newer 3 prong upstairs. Need to convert some of these over to run a couple of window AC units.
You're welcome! Remember, armored cable only.
@@Bootstrappin Video is only applicable for armored wire? Just want to make sure I'm understanding you correctly.
That is correct - type AC armored cable with an internal grounding strip.
@@Bootstrappin thank you. I have to pull an outlet out and see what I'm working with.
@@Bootstrappin I know you know this: If you don't have ground and don't have armored cable you can still legally replace a two-prong with a three-prong GFCI receptacle. Also, to consider whether an A/C unit pulls "too much power" for the existing wiring and its overcurrent protection (e.g., de-rated by 20 percent for continuous use, i.e., maximum current for 3 hours or more).
I usually would err on the side of using a smaller rated outlet, such as 15 amp. If the wiring is 12 gauge and the circuit breaker is 15, use 15 amp outlets also, and be relatively confident you won't have heat problems in your wiring. Over built.
I'd also go with a GFCI instead of using a grounding strip. If the outlet isn't grounded at the panel, I think that's the safest way to minimize risk of fire or shock.
I have two prongs. When I pull the outlet out there are black white and red wires.
Does the red mean it is a switched receptacle?
Also how do I know if my cabling is armored or my box has a grounding plate
the older BX cable connected to the metal outlet gang box isnt technically grounded at all(so pig tail isnt enough), if there is any connection the the breaker box it is a danger, even IF the upgrade was to ground the breaker box to the earth it would still result in a shock(from the breaker box) if there was a short.
Use a sheathed green whatever gauge ground wire to pig tail from each outlet and earth ground, only way
The inside of a 15 amp and a 20 amp duplex receptacle are identical. Only the face cover is different. More than likely that melted receptacle was caused by a loose screw on that wire. If the associated breaker is correctly sized for the wire it will trip before melting the wire. Take one apart and see.
I recommend going to sparky channel or electrician u channels for this type of stuff.
Sparky Channel may have closed their account today. Typed a Question earlier, but then couldn't re-access.
I think they sell extender plates to go under the wall mounts so the outlet is flush with the plate.
I believe aluminum wiring is okay as long as you use compatible receptacles etc.
I just became your 667 like,the devil can eat my shorts.
You show that devil who's boss!
@@Bootstrappin 😂
When my car odometer reached 666 I stopped driving it.
@@mrBDeye oh no, don't let that devil win like that!
I tape mine for 3 reasons:
-yes, to work on while it's hot
-if a wire should somehow rattle loose, the tape MIGHT be enough to keep in in place and not shorting
-if for some reason the cover plate is off, it's a little bit of protection (for example, when painting a wall)
It takes very little time to tape one up.
You should do some research. You can't use a 20 amp outlet with a 14 gauge wire but you can certainly use a 15 amp outlet with a 12 gauge wire. It's actually recommended to use 15 amp outlets when running several outlets on one 20 amp breaker. The only time you are better off with a 20 amp outlet is if it is dedicated.
To put it another way, the gauge of wire determines the maximum current allowed in the branch overcurrent protection device. The receptacle devices may be either 15 or 20 on a 12-gauge branch.
The damaged receptacle you showed was damaged due to a loose screw at that connection point and the high resistance caused it to overheat. Has nothing to do with the rating of the receptacle. And Aluminum oxide is NOT flammable. The reason aluminum wiring caused fires was again high resistance connections due to corrosion where the dissimilar metals(copper and aluminum) connected together.
Everything you said is correct, so I do have some wrong info there.
Very helpful video ! Thank you
So, what makes you think the box itself is grounded???
I guess you didn't watch the video? Metal box, attached to metal sheath, further grounded to bonding strip, all attached back to the ground bar at the panel, verified with an outlet tester.
Noted by the East west notched in the outlet many times those are the 20amp
Or else 250 volts at 15 or 20 amps. No longer allowed to have "both" in a single receptacle configuration.
You can put a 15amp outlet on a 20amp circuit but not a 20amp outlet on a 15amp circuit
I would say somebody popped in a new 20 a breaker not paying attention to the outlets. But why the 12 gauge? I like the way you still assume there is voltage on the outlet. Very wise. I think I'd use a nut driver for that ground screw.
That black outlet you replaced is 240.... Two sideways pins is 15amp 240v.... that one has both horizontal and vertical so it’s 20amp 240v. The problem with aluminum isn’t the oxide flammable. It’s that alumum expands and contracts and works loose. Also issues with the first generation of alloys used in bus bars like the Zinsco panels.
FPE as well call them both the red handles of hell fire lol
Great way to explain thank you
Nice pine. My beach house has it but it was painted.
We wound up painting it white, looks more modern now!
But you still have voltage drop in todays works even in 2019 national standard dictates that you should have wire nutted the two black wires with a pig tail to the outlet itself along with the white wires as well. But kudos for actually grounding the outlet
Luckily for me I suppose, I did this in 2018 X)
Yes having a good electrician friend is always good to have. I’m just having trouble understanding the logic behind the setup. If I can’t understand it then leave it alone or go about it another way that I understand. My neighbor recently told me that if you install gfci circuits in the breaker box it will basically do what I think you’re talking about. But unclear about what he’s telling me too
@@NA-xm7wj I see what he's saying. NEC says that if making a ground path like I did isn't feasible, you can install a GFCI outlet and label it "no ground". Not sure about what a GFCI breaker would do though.
@@Bootstrappin my point exactly
15 amp receptacles are fine on a 20 amp circuit.
my house has these exact same walls throughout
They're really nice, I'd only change the stain to something more modern.
Holding the camera, flashlight, grounding wire & screw, AND your screwdriver? I guess I can't complain when I can't do just two of those.
Important detail: you MUST have a grounding strip inside your armored cable, also known as Type AC cable. You should be able to spot it when you open the cover of your outlet, it's a bare tin plated steel wire. You might have better luck spotting it where the cable enters your electrical panel.
See NEC 250.118 Sections 8 & 9:
(8) Flexible metallic tubing where the tubing is
terminated in fittings listed for grounding and
meeting the following conditions:
a. The circuit conductors contained in the
tubing are protected by overcurrent
devices rated at 20 amperes or less.
b. The combined length of flexible metal
conduit and flexible metallic tubing and
liquidtight flexible metal conduit in the
same ground return path does not exceed
1.8 m (6 ft).
(9) Armor of Type AC cable with an additional
equipment grounding conductor and as
provided in 320.108.
See an example here:
activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/2/5/9/2/ar1364321329522.jpg
That wire is called bonding wire and it is usually a tin plated steel wire not aluminum.
Having 15A receptacle on 20A circuit is not what caused your receptacle to burn. 15A receptacles are rated for 20A pass through. It is usually due to a loose or corroded connection. It is perfectly fine to have 15A receptacles on 20A given that you have more than 1 on the circuit (a duplex receptacle counts as 2).
@@lambition I stand corrected, thank you for the info!
Why would your armored cable have a grounding wire or "bonding wire" inside of it if your house had only two prong outlets? If they were running that ground wire to every outlet, seems like they would've just grounded all the receptacles to begin with. What am I missing?
@@bmfitzgerald3 Devices weren't grounded and likewise grounded outlets didn't exist when the house was first built. Grounds were intended to protect against loose or faulty connections inside the boxes and were much more of an ad-hoc thing than nowadays or even a couple of decades post-construction
How can I find a good electrician who will know what to do and actually do it? My mother's old house has 2 prong outlets all over that need to be swapped out and probably checked to make sure they have the right outlets for the right switches.
you either pay a fortune and watch over thier shoulder or just win the lottery ???
Correct me if I am wrong, but when you screw the receptacle into that metal box, that would ground it without using the added wire, if the box is grounded.(unnecessary work) Maybe just gives you a piece of mind. In fact the adapters give you a green wire to connect to the cover screw for grounding, once again if the box is grounded.
Technically correct if the shell of the outlet is connected directly to the ground prong, but not good enough to be code compliant, and you don't want to rely on screws of unknown conductivity.
@@Bootstrappin ok cool
its code if you dont understand or dont know seek a help in doing electrical work plse
@@wizard3z868 I thought I was rough on the English language. lol
@@jthonn lol ya i dont pay attention much to youtube on grammer lol
Silly you with an actual breaker panel. I'm still working with fuses, bare wires and glass insulators.
Oh man silly me indeed. Aside from that stuff being so old that it just needs to be replaced, I suppose you could stick GFCI outlets everywhere and call it a day.
Im doing this in my house and before doing any of this, i tested for ground with my multimeter. I measured hot to ground by putting the red probe in the hot prong and put the black probe on the inside of the metal box. This gave me 30v on one of my outlets. The others were showing 120v. Why is one of my boxes improperly grounded? How can i fix this?
For what its worth if the cable entering the box is BX or metal sheathing & the 30v you got was definitely from hot to ground (hot being a black or red color wire on the darker colored screws of the outlet also the smaller size of the 2 flat blades or prongs) & neutral to ground (white or lighter colored wire & the longer of the 2 blades or prongs) to ground cause you can get several crazy volts off a neutral to ground test which would depend on anything from an actual switched outlet or a fridge or celing fan on that same circut but way back when they actually had gas lighting & chandeliers (now a large round decorative tin or copper plate with like an eggplant shaped cover in the middle of it) but back then wall switches would control an outlet in a roon ment say for a lamp but then there's the some one just screwed up the wiring along that circut meaning hot & neutral is reversed somewhere but again if its a metal covered cable in the box & its secured to the box properly it should be the 110/120volts to ground or to neutral but as i stated in another comment the 2 screws that actually secure the outlet to the box (if metal cable is used) is gunna ground the outlet but also remember then if you remove the 2 (6-32) screws from the box then test the outlet for voltage from say the hot side or hot blade to the neutral side you will only get the 110 or 120v there but if you test the hot side to the botton (round) ground 3rd prong you wont get anything cause removing the outlet completely from the box only held on by the copper wires doing so removed the ground..ok hope this helps a little or if im to late hope you found out pretty much what i said ...good luck
"Get it inspected by a cat" (that was chasing a house centipede).
Not many people are going to have MC cable running to a receptacle lol IMO using the jacket as a ground is not a good grounding source.
Also, you should pigtail the outlet. The way you connected it will kill everything down the line if that 50cent outlet goes bad.
If you’re not going to run a new line replace the 2-prong with a GFCI
This video is useful to me for the tiny tricks on the cable wrapped around the screw.
Don’t have the metal shielded cable unfortunately.. 😕
You may still install a 3-slot "grounding type" GFCI receptacle without any grounding wire, unless your local code prohibits it.
Well, you can have a 15 amp rated receptacle on a 20 amp breaker. However, the idea behind that being allowed is that those receptacles won't exceed 80% of the receptacles amp rating which would 12 amps for a 15 amp rated receptacle.
There's nothing in a receptacle (15 or 20 amp in this case) to prevent 80% or more of the circuit current rating, it's just conductive material. The only way to control that is selecting the proper wire gauge for the circuit and/or limiting the number of simultaneous loads of significant power consumption.
@@surferdude642
I agree, but knowing that you shouldn’t exceed 80 of the receptacles amp rating would allow you to be conscious of what ur plugging into that receptacle to make sure the load(s) don’t exceed the 80% threshold.
You can put a 15 amp receptacle on a 20 amp circuit, but not a 20 amp receptacle on a 15 amp circuit.
That's a 20 amp residential grade receptacle and is inferior to a 15 amp spec grade receptacle which is what you should be using, if you verified that the metal box has a good ground. If not, you need a GFCI receptacle. There's no need for a 20 receptacle.
thanks dude for teaching us
You're welcome!
With no ground in the box, the ground "pig tail" is pointless. This type of rag wire has no ground wire so the box does not connect to ground. The electric code is very clear on how to deal with this. Replace it with a GFCI receptacle (which does not need a ground to protect from leakage current). A GFCI breaker will also work. If this had been armor cable or conduit, this method would have provided a ground path.
You're right about GFCI and armored cabling. Did you not watch the video? Armored cabling is what I had and explicitly said it is needed to make this a viable grounding method.
how could do the ground wire if electrical box was plastic? Thanks.
At that point the most economical thing to do is to replace the outlet with a GFCI outlet and put a sticker on it that says "no equipment ground" (this is 'to code'). The alternative is routing new 3 conductor cabling.
He sounds like my science teacher from 1978 😉
Is it against electrical code to add a ground wire like this
As far as I know, yes, but codes always change. This is a comment I wrote from a few years ago:
Important detail: you MUST have a grounding strip inside your armored cable, also known as Type AC cable. You should be able to spot it when you open the cover of your outlet, it's a bare tin plated steel wire. You might have better luck spotting it where the cable enters your electrical panel.
See NEC 250.118 Sections 8 & 9:
(8) Flexible metallic tubing where the tubing is
terminated in fittings listed for grounding and
meeting the following conditions:
a. The circuit conductors contained in the
tubing are protected by overcurrent
devices rated at 20 amperes or less.
b. The combined length of flexible metal
conduit and flexible metallic tubing and
liquidtight flexible metal conduit in the
same ground return path does not exceed
1.8 m (6 ft).
(9) Armor of Type AC cable with an additional
equipment grounding conductor and as
provided in 320.108.
See an example here:
activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/2/5/9/2/ar1364321329522.jpg
Gonna have a poop-ton of these to do in a house we just moved into - great video thanks for sharing!
Yeah it's a massive pain in the neck, and you'll probably find some nasty surprises. Be sure your armored cable is connected to ground at the panel. Otherwise, NEC states to replace all of them with GFCIs labeled with "no equipment ground".
@@Bootstrappin If not also AFCI and tamper-resistant features.
i must have missed the part where you made sure that the box itself was grounded properly or do all old electrical systems hav grounded boxes
No, not all old boxes are grounded. Like I said in the beginning of the video - I know mine is grounded because I have armored cabling (which is conductive) AND it has an internal bonding strip/conductor. You can also do a resistance check.
You cannot know if your metal outlet box is grounded or not just because you have metal conduit running toward or to it, always make sure it's truly ground.
I have that EXACT same 2 prong outlet!
I have the ole ceramic post type wiring.
It is impossible to run modern wire through the walls unless you rip out the antique walls to do it.
And the lead paint under the paneling...
I believe those old outlets were made out of Bakelite. VERY durable. Built to last nearly a lifetime.
New outlets are made from CHEAP PLASTIC. Designed to last a scant few years.
The old copper was MUCH stiffer than modern day.
Wrapping the outlet with electrical tape was a safety issue.
Just in case any screws loosened over time and touched the metal box.
I thought you were supposed to have 6-8 inches of wire out the box.
Your 6in ground wire is too short because 1-1/2 to 2" or so is inside the box.
'
I would have gotten a standard (as opposed to Decora) brown receptacle and reused the original plate. The Decora and white doesn't match the original architecture.
If you have the vintage Outlet that means is super rare
What do you mean by super rare?
It's because it's not have a ground and it was made in the 1950s Indo things do not exist I mean without the t they have those but they do not have the t
Actually if the outlet has the half slot coming from the middle of the vertical slot that would be a 20amp outlet google what a 20amp plug say on a real heavy duty vacume or other heavy duty appliance also if the BX cable is entered into the/A metal box properly as soon as you screw the outlet into the box with its 6-32 screws then POW your outlet is now grounded or should i say your 20 amp outlet is now properly grounded & you are right about the aluminum wire mostly used for a brief period in the early 70's but its burns like a fireworks fuse but they sell something called petrox that either is in a wire nut or a small squeeze bottle & anytime you splice copper to aluminum a few drops of it in/on the splice your good to go.. hope this helps someone a little...
Does ordinary screw with copper wire are also works?
Won't be to code, and you risk bad grounding qualities depending what it is. A box of ground screws is like $5.
I've been told unless you have a ground wire running to that box that is from the breaker panel in some way you are still not grounded because the box has no ground and that doing this is a fake ground
Right, and that is why the ground path we use is the metallic sheath with the internal bonding strip, both of which are conductive.
You mentioned if wire is 14 gauge and breaker is 20 amp, change the breaker to 15 amp. What if breaker is 15 amp and outlet is 15 amp, but wire is 12 gauge (copper wire, not aluminum wire)? Is it okay to leave breaker and outlet alone or is it necessary to upgrade breaker and outlet?
12 gauge wire is designed to carry up to 20A, so it's not a safety hazard.
I use a nut driver to put in the grounding screw.
I actually really like this idea, no risk of stripping. Do you know the size off the top of your head?
@@Bootstrappin I think it’s 9/32, but try 1/4 & 5/16.
@@TomCee53 nice man, thanks!
All the breakers in my house say 30 or 60 on them, I’m kinda confused as to what outlet I should buy
Honestly that's confusing to me too, that's a wild amount of amps for a household. How old is the house?
How many breakers are in the box?
@@js4187 that's a good question, maybe it's a sub panel
@@Bootstrappin Ive seen 30 amp breakers used in older panels that would have severl rooms , bathroom etc on them .
@@js4187 That would not be safe and therefore was NEVER legal. You can feed a subpanel with 30 A but a branch circuit using 12 or 14 AWG cannot have overcurrent protection in excess of 15 or 20 amps. Otherwise the wires can overheat for as long as it takes to start a fire, well before an oversized fuse or breaker opens.
Good day sir, how many volts will you get if you connect the voltmeter one lead to one hot terminal and the other probe to the ground socket, and also the N terminal to the ground socket? Tyi
Hard to see for sure with the low light in the video, but it appears there is the T receptacle on the neutral side. If so that would indicate it is indeed a 20 A device.
It;s an older 15 amp tandem-parallel receptacle
Not exactly. The "t" is on both slots meaning it could also have been wired for 250 volts as a NEMA 2-15R or maybe even a 2-20R.
I moved into a house built in the 50s but some rooms were updated with 3 prongs some still have 2. Also we have a fuse box instead of a breaker box. Is it still safe to just change the outlets to 3 prongs or do I need to get rid of the fuse box?
That all depends, there's nothing wrong with a fuse box necessarily. In some ways fuses are superior safety wise to circuit breakers. But as for grounding, you'll have to inspect and see what you have, and if it can be reasonably modified to create a ground path back to your electrical panel, or whether you'll have to just install modern cabling.
You can only put a 15 amp outlet on 20 amp circuit if it is rated for 20 amp pass through
Actually you can put 15 amp receps on a 20 amp circuit if you have more than one 15 amp recep on that circuiut
@@donl1410 why would the number of outlets make any difference? If your Overcurrent is 20 amps, your receptacle at 15, would be 5 amps below that.
@@frankpaya690 Code requirements: NEC Article 210.21(B)(1) Single Receptacle on an Individual Branch Circuit. A single receptacle installed on an individual branch circuit shall have an ampere rating not less than that of the branch circuit.
Article 210.21 (B)(3) Permits the use of Table 210.21(B)(3) where the receptacles are connected to a branch circuit supplying two or more receptacles. Circuit Rating (Amperes) 20- Receptacle Rating (Amperes) 15 or 20
The ancient Chinese were well-known for having cats inspect their electrical wiring.
Great video. How did you find out if the box was grounded? Also, If the box is grounded why do you need a ground pigtail to outlet. Shouldn't the outlet be grounded by touching the metal box? Thanks!
its nec code everything be bonded at all times
@@wizard3z868 No, it's not "nec code". Some receptacles ALSO have a self-grounding feature in which the grounding contact is bonded to the mounting strap. Others require a pigtail to a screw. Some do both.
What about a fiber box you are grounded to the metal box ?
No, fiber is not conductive. If you have armored cabling going to a plastic/fiber box, you'd have to find a way to make a good mechanical connection to the metal cable sheath, I reckon.
@@Bootstrappin You cannot have armored cable and a plastic/fiber box. Any metallic cabling requires a metal box. You can use NM (Romex) in a metal or plastic box. Plastic boxes are for NM cable routed inside the wall.
@@surferdude642 yeah you're right. No go on armored cabling in metal box.
Cannot use metallic flex conduit as CPC. Must have separate ground wire or armoured cable. Dangerous. Also use insulated sleeve on ground pigtail.
Thanks. Can I use a grounding clip instead of a screw? It would seem a lot easier.
I think that would be fine. I tried using those initially, but somehow the dimension was off (old box) and it didn't make a very secure connection, so I went with screws.
If your box is grounded and slightly recessed like this one you can break off the metal ears off the yoke and use them as shims between the receptacle and the box. You can add a short piece of ground wire (14 awg) to the back of the yoke and around the screw and the other end to the ground screw on the receptacle. Connect the hot and neutral last. Tighten your mounting screws firmly and you will have a solid ground.
Good information except for the fact that aluminum oxide is NOT flammable, it is just not a conductor. As aluminum oxide forms heat builds up because of the resistance.
That's correct, wrong assumption on my part