Getting details sorted out at the new house. I like the stylistic choice we've made with polished nickel switchplates and black switches/outlets.
We still have a few that weren't new installations during the construction, and being built in 1950, they're not grounded, just polarized. I want to replace them with the correct outlets in the right color unless and until we go back and run grounded wiring.
I'm baffled to find after settling everything on black, that polarized two-prong 15A (NEMA 1-15R, I guess) outlets are nonexistent in that color. Almond, white, brown, sure... I can't find a trace of them in black.
I'd love to have someone just say "Duh" and post a link to some for sale. But I guess I'd settle for the amusement of someone with electrical experience pointing out some arcane code that says you can't do these in black for some reason or convention...
I guess it makes it harder to see which is the wide slot and which the narrow, though A) brown doesn't seem much better, and B) I figure much like USB plugs, the "normal" approach is to get it wrong and flip it over.
I wasn't able to find any in black either, but it's probably because 1) black is an uncommon color for receptacles in the first place, and 2) there's just about zero demand for non-grounded duplex receptacles of any color these days.
Your other choice would be to use GFCI receptacles, they can be installed in a non-grounded system (there should be a little sticker that comes in the box that you put on the receptacle after installation that states it's non-grounded.)
By polarized... you mean the common side has the fatter plug?
If so, Home Depot has about 30 options on the shelf.
I think my question is... why 2-prong? I don't think the code limitation comes from the color, I think it comes from the fact that 2-prong outlets are ancient history.
If you have metal boxes the boxes themselves may indeed be grounded, allowing you to safely add much easier to find grounded receptacles. just ground right to the box.
I'd rather not fall back to GFCI receptacles, for a combination of mostly aesthetic concerns, topped with a side order of stupidly expensive switch plates already on hand in duplex. They do make GFCI compatible ones, and we have a bunch in the kitchen. The stickers do nothing to improve already compromised looks, and we have a number of properly grounded outlets put in during the remodel for stuff that needs it.
Curtis, HD may have 30 things on the shelf, but black polarized two-prong outlets are not among them. Not at either of two nearby locations nor on the website. Moreover, Leviton doesn't seem to list them.
All the new work was done with black three-prongs, black GFCI outlets, and black switches, regular and dimmer.
I'm not surprised at reduced support for polarized two-prongs; just a bit surprised/bummed that black seems to be the only omission.
I may try brown, as few are next to each other, and it may provide a reasonably vintage, "Bakelite" sort of look.
Frankly, I'm surprised that ANY 2-prong outlets in any color are available today.
T.J.
MegaDork
7/18/19 8:22 a.m.
Hmm, why not install 3 pronged black duplex outlets? If you have grounded boxes, you can add the ground wire. If not and there is no easy way to add a ground wire, either don't plug in things with 3 prong plugs or epoxy the ground holes in your outlets to prevent use.
EDIT: I would want to add grounds if it were my house. 2 prong outlets are rare these days for a reason.
People do it all the time, but installing grounded receptacles on a non-grounded system is an NEC violation.
In reply to 1988RedT2 :
Still plenty of old houses running ungrounded systems. And there’s nothing really wrong about the earliest nm cables without grounds, so there still needs to be support for receptacles. I’ve never come across any where the insulation isn’t still pliable and uncracked.
T.J. said:
Hmm, why not install 3 pronged black duplex outlets? If you have grounded boxes, you can add the ground wire. If not and there is no easy way to add a ground wire, either don't plug in things with 3 prong plugs or epoxy the ground holes in your outlets to prevent use.
EDIT: I would want to add grounds if it were my house. 2 prong outlets are rare these days for a reason.
Oh, I want to add grounds. But we just added six feet of kitchen and a shed dormer, necessitating the shredding of more than half the interior walls for access for structural improvements. Everywhere things were torn up enough to give access or were new construction, we have new wire with grounds, and grounded outlets. But expanding the project into grounding stuff that wasn't already torn up was scope creep we couldn't cope with.
I'll check the boxes for grounding today. That's one I think we probably ruled out at some point but now I don't recall. Our old house was built in 1928 and had grounded conduit and thus boxes. This house was built in 1950 and is Romex with no conduit, so I don't think it's likely that there's a ground available at the boxes. Fingers crossed.
I didn't realize Romex could be installed with only 2 wires to the box. I thought it was either 3 wire (or more) Romex or metal conduit...
ronholm said:
If you have metal boxes the boxes themselves may indeed be grounded, allowing you to safely add much easier to find grounded receptacles. just ground right to the box.
How do I check if the boxes are grounded ?
My house was built early 1950s ?
Thanks for the info
Robbie said:
I didn't realize Romex could be installed with only 2 wires to the box. I thought it was either 3 wire (or more) Romex or metal conduit...
It was apparently quite common from the dawn of Romex (mid-1920's) through the mid-60's or so.
I don’t know the answer to your question. What I *DO* know is that “Black Polar Bear 2-Prongz” is my new rap name.
californiamilleghia said:
ronholm said:
If you have metal boxes the boxes themselves may indeed be grounded, allowing you to safely add much easier to find grounded receptacles. just ground right to the box.
How do I check if the boxes are grounded ?
My house was built early 1950s ?
Thanks for the info
There's probably an easier way; my plan is to check and see if the box is metal, and if so, go ahead and wire in a new 3-prong outlet using a ground wire clipped to the box with one of these ground clips, and check the result with one of these receptacle testers.
Of course there is! A quick Google tells me that, just like common sense would suggest, you should get the nominal voltage between hot and ground just like with hot and neutral. I got a nice 120V between hot and neutral, but hot to the switchplate's screw gets me 35V. So, not properly grounded; probably not grounded at all and I'm not going to go trying to research that thing that's always been odd to me about some of the weird voltages you get with AC and floating stuff. Induction? Capacitance? For giggles, I get 9V between neutral and ground. 
Suffice it to say that I'm not going to be able to throw a grounding wire in from box to receptacle and call it done.
californiamilleghia said:
ronholm said:
If you have metal boxes the boxes themselves may indeed be grounded, allowing you to safely add much easier to find grounded receptacles. just ground right to the box.
How do I check if the boxes are grounded ?
My house was built early 1950s ?
Thanks for the info
Super simple. You most likely have metal boxes with MC conduit (the spiral-jacketed metal stuff). The metal jacket IS the ground because the other end is clamped to the breaker box. Using a multi-meter, test voltage between the hot blade in the outlet and the screw holding the faceplate on. If you get the same voltage as you do between the two blades, bingo. Ground. When you add a grounded outlet, the two screws that hold it to the box are directly attached to the ground pin so it's a no-brainer. Newer duplexes have a separate ground screw because most new construction is with plastic boxes, so you need to physically ground the outlet with the bare wire instead of the mounting screws.
I re-did my whole 1930s house with grounded outlets this way. It was all MC jacket (metal clad) and they all worked great. There was one GFCI that I added in the bathroom that the ground wasn't very good and the GFCI kept tripping, but a little tightening of the clamps at the box and the breaker panel fixed it. Like Ransom discovered with his, I had 90v of phantom voltage between white and ground, and only tested about 19v from hot to ground. Tightening the clamps 100% fixed the problem for me.
If you have cloth jacket or romex with only two conductors, you're not as lucky, but I can't think of any house built ever that did that. Even in the 30s they grounded the box even though there wasn't a ground pin on the outlet.
Robbie said:
I didn't realize Romex could be installed with only 2 wires to the box. I thought it was either 3 wire (or more) Romex or metal conduit...
I have never seen 2-wire romex installed, but my electrical work has been limited to CA, PA, ONT, LA, and TX on houses ranging from 1900s to present with a grab bag of wiring.
Ransom said:
T.J. said:
Hmm, why not install 3 pronged black duplex outlets? If you have grounded boxes, you can add the ground wire. If not and there is no easy way to add a ground wire, either don't plug in things with 3 prong plugs or epoxy the ground holes in your outlets to prevent use.
EDIT: I would want to add grounds if it were my house. 2 prong outlets are rare these days for a reason.
Oh, I want to add grounds. But we just added six feet of kitchen and a shed dormer, necessitating the shredding of more than half the interior walls for access for structural improvements. Everywhere things were torn up enough to give access or were new construction, we have new wire with grounds, and grounded outlets. But expanding the project into grounding stuff that wasn't already torn up was scope creep we couldn't cope with.
I'll check the boxes for grounding today. That's one I think we probably ruled out at some point but now I don't recall. Our old house was built in 1928 and had grounded conduit and thus boxes. This house was built in 1950 and is Romex with no conduit, so I don't think it's likely that there's a ground available at the boxes. Fingers crossed.
My suggestion would be to test each one. Test each one between the poles of the receptacle and then compare it to the voltage you get hot to the center screw. If you get the same voltage, you're good. If you don't get the same voltage on a few, don't give up. Pull the plate off and test the actual black wire to the box itself. The faceplate screw is not required to be grounded in those old duplexes, not to mention years of those screws going on and off may have cracked the ceramic or plastic surrounding it. It's one of those things where if you get a good result from the outlet to the screw, you know it's good without digging any deeper. If you don't get a good result, it doesn't mean the ground is bad. Just pull the plate and check inside.
If you check inside and it still isn't a good ground, try tightening the clamps at the box and the breaker panel... not just the jacket clamp, but the threaded part that goes through the breakout.
I've not yet encountered an MC jacket that wouldn't provide a good ground, but I'm not super experienced. Suffice it to say, I'm a master in electrical theory. I know how it works with a lot of confidence, but an electrician I am not. I can't answer intelligently about code compliance.
