Old House, Room Not Grounded!

Well the saga of my 75 continues... :

I moved into a house that was built in 1902. heh.
Most rooms have 3 prong outlets... EXCEPT the room I put the 75 in. GO FIGURE!

I bought a GFCI and asked my landlord to install it, but he said it would do nothing because there is not a GX line or something running in that room. All the outlets are 2 prong.

THIS SUCKS! I have a halide and what not and I can't imagine not grounding everything. In fact, if I recall correctly, the halide won't even kick start without a ground. >

SO... what the heck do I do?
Putting it in another room is not really an option. Without major work anyway.

For the record, on the other side of the wall, directly from the outlet I want to plug the tank in, is a grounded outlet. Can I splice the ground?
What if I just get a 3 prong adapter and ground it on the plate screw?

OY!

:-/

 

Well I would open up the wall to see if you can find that ground plug. To make sure it's a real ground. Other wise you will have to run a ground wire up from the box. That sound worse than it really is. maybe $100.00 by a good electrician?

 

Thanks J, I was thinking the same thing.. Open it up and explore.

I asked my landlord about an electrician and he said it would be very expensive.. more than the tank itself. I don't know.. worth a phone call though. Maybe I can have a guy come out and give a free estimate? [smiley=vulcan.gif]

 

I had a guy come out to look at the electrical, Wanted to put Aquarium on it's own line. Cost is going to depend on the location and ease of running the line. Houses are usually pretty simple Condos not so. I sure hope you can get it done. would love to see you get the 75 up and running.

J

 

[quote author=Jakets link=board=General;num=1070463594;start=0#3 date=12/03/03 at 13:40:50]would love to see you get the 75 up and running.[/quote]

Jeez I've heard you say that more than once.. [smiley=bawling.gif] :

 

i spoke to my father who is like a handiman. he sais that u cant change the outlet to one with ground because it wont really have ground, but u have to hire an electrician to ground your braker box(box with all the switches) or actually, old buldings should have ceramic fuse box.then you can change the outlet to one with ground. Hopefully this helps out somehow. Big a$$ inconvenience.

                                        JOE

 

[quote author=turbo4603 link=board=General;num=1070463594;start=0#5 date=12/03/03 at 13:45:00]Big a$$ inconvenience. [/quote]

Thanks Joe. Oh well. I'll keep you all posted.
[smiley=bigcry.gif] [smiley=bomb.gif] [smiley=furious3.gif]

 

Matt, did you sya the outlet behind has a three hole grounding outlet? If so they did one of two things the circut breaker panel is grounded and they didn't change that outlet or... They grounded all the 3 prong outlets to the conduit /outlet box not the best but it works I would not use the plug converter unless you can run the pig tail to a ground like a COLD water pipe. sorry to hear the news but keep us posted.

 

He told me this morning the old lines were coming from the ceiling running through the attic and the new lines are coming from the basement. Sounds WEIRD!

When I told him about the 3 prong on the other side, he said he'd look into it. Hopefully he will come up with something.

I thought about the pipe thing.

 

With out seeing the layout I would guess the old wiring came from the attic because it is original and the new wiring from the basement because it is replacement or upgraded. When they built the house all the walls were open and made attic access easy, but once the walls were in (either drywall or lath and plaster) it would have been to costly and messy to do it any other way. If the outlet (3 prong) is back to back with the outlet you need or really close the upgrade is easy and not very costly ( about an hours work) do you have access to breakers/fuse panel for your living space?