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When did they installing grounded outlets in homes?

25K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  Piedmont 
#1 · (Edited)
I'm looking at fixer uppers. Again. Approximately what year did houses start being built with 3 prong grounded outlets? I have owned some really old homes in the past that had to be rewired (knob & tube). Would love to avoid that in the future. My parents had a home built in 1955 that had two prong when they bought it and I currently own a 1972 house that has grounded outlets but has also had a major electric overhaul some maybe they were added later.
 
#3 ·
In the 60's. The Romex type cables of that era had a small ground wire, about 16ga, included. You may find two prong receptacles with grounded Romex, where the ground wire was wrapped around the cable connector. Most switch legs of that era still used ungrounded Romex.
 
#4 · (Edited)
My house built in 62 and all outlets were grounded. My house was originally built with armored cable, which has 2 wires inside a metal flexible conduit. I don't know if intentional or not, but because the jacket of it is metal and attaches to your breaker panel the jacket works as the ground. Every box was metal and connected to the jacket of the cable making all the boxes grounded. In short, all I had to do was swap out the 2 prong outlets for 3... didn't have to rewire anything. Afterward running a plug tester they all showed they're properly grounded outlets.
 
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