Home wiring?

[Wmarden]

I don't really know where to post this, but I guess this is as good a spot as any. I have concerns about the household wiring's safety. The house is about 30 years old and so the outlets are not the 3 prong grounding style. It has black and white wires, but no green wire for grounding. I can physically replace the outlets, but I don't think that is enough. I feel I also need to clarify that I am talking about 110, or actually 120 odd volt wiring not 220. My last electrical course was about 13 years ago, so I don't remember much. I do know safety and how to physically replace outlets and switches. But I don't remember much about wiring theory.


Downstairs in the basement it is a little better as far as wiring, but it is less convenient for welding at the moment. Once I get the floor pans put in my 71 cutlass I will be able to move it out and then have a little more space to work with, but for now the carport upstairs is a better area for welding. It is sheltered from the weather somewhat. Where I can weld now downstairs is out on the little concrete pad outside the basement garage.

[Joe]

wiring...

I am not an electrician, but I am an electronics tech and do a lot of industrial maintenance and wiring. Your best bet would be to replace the wiring. You can wire new outlets without the neutral. I think the black wire is actually the hot wire and the white is the ground. The green wire is just for a reference point to ground. It would be tied into the same point that your ground wire would be tied into at the breaker box. It is safer to have it but you really don't need it.

[cope]

wiring

110/115/120/125 doesn't make any difference to you. My house was built in 1964. 30 year old wiring isan't a problem. You do need the neutral to be completely safe, but if most of your internal appliances use a 2 prong plug, you can get by as is. For basement or outdoor work I would strongly recommend a ground. Joe is correct; the neutral and ground tie in at the same place in the breaker box, but if there is no ground wire and the neutral breaks somewhere, you have no wire going back and the user will be the substitute. For areas where a ground is necessary you can fish a third wire to the outlets and run it back to the box. For a 220 volt circuit, the 3rd wire is needed. I have seen commercial 220 volt setups with no 3rd wire. These use the conduit for the neutral. This may be ok, but what happens when the conduit becomes separated?

[Hobart Expert Rock]

HI WMARDEN.............WELL I'M GOING TO CHIME IN HERE AS I DO ON A REGULAR BASIS........IF YOU DECIDE TO MODIFY YOUR HOUSE HOLD WIREING PLEASE DO SO PER CODES IN YOUR AREA.... I KNOW, I KNOW I'VE HEARD IT ALL BEFORE BUT IF YOU DON'T DO IT TO CODE COUNTY, STATE, CITY, ETC. AND THERE IS A PROBLEM AND THE HOUSE CATCH'S FIRE (OR GARAGE, OUT BUILDING ETC.) YOUR INSURANCE DOES NOT HALFT TO PAY OFF. IF YOU DID IT AND IT IS NOT PER CODE AND OFFICIAL YOUR COOKED. HOPEFULLY NOT LITERALLY...........YOU CAN DO IT YOURSELF JUST DO IT SAFELY AND CORRECTLY....... LET'S BE SAFE OUT THERE............................................. .ROCK
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[Tedlee7]

Electrical Safety

If I understand your post ? I think your concern is for connecting your 120 volt welder?
If you have an older house with only 2 wires? the Black wire is the hot wire , the white wire is called the common or grounded wire. The third wire which is missing is the grounding wire, its purpose in life is to protect you in case you get an electrical short in your equipment. It carrys the short current back to the Fuse or breaker box to blow the fuse or trip the breaker insteasd of you getting hurt.
This said the easy way to solve this problem is to replace any recptical you plan to plug your tools into with a GFCI ( Ground Fault Circuit Interepter ) type. This will work on a 2 wire circurit, give you a 3 prong outlet and maxium protection.