![]() ![]() It can also be caused by a break in the grounding connection such as a broken wire. This can occur when a two-pronged outlet is upgraded to a three-prong outlet without adding the required grounding wire to the electrical circuit. What is an Open Ground Outlet?Ĭoming back to open ground outlets – what exactly is it?Īn open ground outlet refers to a three-pronged outlet that isn’t connected to the house’s electrical grounding system. It connects all electronic systems, devices, outlets, and metallic enclosures in your house to the ground. The grounding system provides a backup pathway to guide the current through an alternative route that leads it back to the ground. However, a fault in the wiring system can lead to a short circuit, and here’s where electrical grounding comes into play. Going back to basics, the electricity that a person uses in their house relies on a residential wiring system that provides electrons a pathway to flow, with the use of metal circuit wires. To understand what an open ground outlet means, we need to first understand what grounding means in electrical terms. If you need a fix for an outlet that isn’t grounded, don’t worry I’ve got everything you need to know below to understand what it means and how to best get these outlets in working order. What you have done, however, is disable an important safety feature that protects you from electric shock if a wire comes loose.Sometimes, our homes present us with a project we just shouldn’t ignore.Īn open ground outlet is no exception since obviously, it concerns electricity, and is there to keep us and our homes safer. What happens if you cut off the ground prong or use a cheater plug so you can plug a three-prong appliance into a two-prong outlet? Nothing really - the appliance will still operate. Now the appliance won't work, but it won't kill you either. With the case grounded, the electricity from the hot wire flows straight to ground, and this trips the breaker in the breaker box. If the loose wire is hot, then the metal case is now hot, and anyone who touches it will get a potentially fatal shock. ![]() Let's say that a wire comes loose inside an ungrounded metal case, and the loose wire touches the metal case. The casing is connected directly to the ground prong. The idea behind grounding is to protect the people who use metal-encased appliances from electric shock. This may also include some things, like your computer, that have a metal-encased power supply inside even if the device itself comes in a plastic case. If you look around your house, what you will find is that just about every appliance with a metal case has a three-prong outlet. Since they both go to the same place, why do you need both? They all connect to ground (see How Power Distribution Grids Work for details on grounding). That is, if you go back to the breaker box, you will find that the neutral and ground wires from all of the outlets go to the same place. The ground slot and the neutral slot of an outlet are identical. The circuit breaker prevents the wires in the wall or the outlet itself from overheating and starting a fire. Back in the breaker box, the circuit breaker for the outlet would detect this huge surge and it would cut off the flow of electricity. What if you were to plug a thick strand of wire straight from the hot slot to the neutral slot of an outlet? Unlike an appliance, which limits the amount of electricity that can flow to 60 watts (for a light bulb) or 500 watts (for a toaster), the wire would let an incredible amount of electricity flow through it. The power will flow from the hot prong, through the filament and back to the neutral prong, creating light in the process. Let's say you plug a light bulb into the outlet. The appliance you plug into an outlet completes the circuit from the hot slot to the neutral slot, and electricity flows through the appliance to run a motor, heat some coils or whatever. In a house outlet, power flows from hot to neutral. In a battery, electricity flows from one terminal of the battery to the other. If you have read How Batteries Work, you know that electricity must flow in a circuit. The left slot is called " neutral," the right slot is called " hot" and the hole below them is called " ground." The prongs on a plug fit into these slots in the outlet. The left slot is slightly larger than the right. When you look at a normal 120-volt outlet in the United States, there are two vertical slots and then a round hole centered below them. Let's start with what the holes in an outlet do. Three-prong plugs help guard against electric shock. ![]()
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