2 prong

[David P. Valley]

Originally Posted by nbhi

David
Here are the pics.
Attachment 30515

Attachment 30516

Great. I see ground wires on the Romex wires. Why aren't they grounding the newly installed outlets?

The ground wire is there, it's simply got to be disconnected on the outlet side.

[Jim Port]

Originally Posted by dvalley

Gary,

If this home is wired with Romex, then where's the ground wire?

It's disconnected somewhere! Simply recommend that an Electrician connect all ground wires to the 3-prong outlets.

Not that is sounds like it applies in this case but early NM cable did not contain a grounding conductor. Later versions had an undersized grounding conductor, commonly about a 16 gauge.

Hopefully this wasn't the type of install where the grounding conductor was clipped off just outside the jacket.

[William (Billy) Doughty]

In testing two pronged outlets, I've found that some of them show both sides are "hot". I'm using a voltage meter to test each post(prong) separately. Shouldn't the positive test hot and the neutral not register with the voltage meter? What's the call on this one?

[Jim Port]

Billy, it would have been much better to start your own thread instead of tagging on to one this old.

What type of voltage meter or detector are you attempting to use?

[William (Billy) Doughty]

It has one probe that you insert into the outlet. Generally, on a two prong, you have one side hot and the other not. But as I mentioned before, I'm seeing several outlets that are hot on both sides of the two prong outlet.

I've attached a picture of the voltalert I'm using. Not really a meter, but something to check for the existing of voltage.

Yeah, I know this would be better as a new post. I'm having some issues with that right now. For some reason the new post button isn't showing up on my browser.

[Jim Port]

That is what I thought you were using to detect voltage. While they are good for some usages there are some limitations. One of the issues is that they can give a false positive for voltage. This is better than a false negative it can be confusing. Those detectors read the field around energized wires. I think the field is strong enough thru the older insulation to bleed over and give the impression that both are hot.

[Marcel R. Cyr]

did anyone notice the water line above the panel?

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

There no problem there Marcel, but I think you know that.

[William (Billy) Doughty]

Jim, what do you use to test the two prong outlets to avoid this problem?

[Marcel R. Cyr]

Well, maybe it is just a jurisdiction thingy Jeff, but a few years ago on a Commercial Project of mine the AHJ had me move a line just like that.
Wouldn't bother me any, but that is how some of these AHJ's look at it.
Most be part of the NEC somewhere, I don't have one.

[rbusch]

Originally Posted by wdoughty

Jim, what do you use to test the two prong outlets to avoid this problem?

Here

[Jim Port]

Originally Posted by rbusch

Here

If the system is not grounded you will not be able to determine which slot is the hot using a Wiggy.

Could someone explain why it would be so important to test to see which slot is hot on an ungrounded 2 slot receptacle?

[Frank P. Newman]

Probably doesn't matter which side is hot because the older 2 prong outlets were not polarized.