3 prong not Ground wired in wall...problem?

Our refrigerator went out last week and when moving the frige out we discovered that the outlet was cracked, so I decided to replace it. Despite it being 3 prong, there was no grounding wire mounted nor available. Its funny, the rest of our house has the grounding wires when I've looked, how serious is this issue? I replaced the socket with another 3 prong, but again, its not grounded... Is this going to be a safety issue??

I'm not an electrician, so take this with a grain of salt.

A electronic-technician neighbour of mine, who's son is an electrician, told me once that some electricians run fridge/freezer powerpoints off lighting circuits as they can cause problems with RCD's (residual current devices, or safety switches). Therefore, they would most likely not have earth leakage. Note that I live in Australia.

The fridge/freezer powerpoints in my house do have earths and are three prong.

cannman said:

Our refrigerator went out last week and when moving the frige out we discovered that the outlet was cracked, so I decided to replace it. Despite it being 3 prong, there was no grounding wire mounted nor available. Its funny, the rest of our house has the grounding wires when I've looked, how serious is this issue? I replaced the socket with another 3 prong, but again, its not grounded... Is this going to be a safety issue??

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Brace yourself for a shock but when I was a kid there were no ground wires! IOW millions of Americans (and presumably others elsewhere in the world) lived and prospered without grounded appliances. Of course a lesser number didn't live nor prosper because they got electrocuted as a consequence of what would today be considered improper grounding. While that was rare it happened often enough that the standards changed and codes required a separate grounding conductor in each circuit to be connected to the frame of any appliance plugged in. The probability is very high that you will never experience a problem with this but it is not 1. Were I you I'd look for a way to get a ground to that outlet. First thing to do is see how the box is wired. You are implying that it is Romex without the grounding (bare) wire. Try verifying that at the panel. The ground may have been there but broken off at the box during an earlier repair or it could be wrapped around a grounding screw in the box that you didn't see. In that case you can connect the outlet ground to the box. Or if it got broken off perhaps you can access the end and splice to it. In an older house you may find BX (armored) cable. In that case the armor can serve as the grounding conductor provided it is bonded to ground at the panel.

If there is another reasonably close outlet you could attach a grounding wire there and snake it through the wall (nasty job) to the refrigerator box. Best, of course, would be to pull a new piece of Romex (with ground) from the panel. This is, believe it or not, humanly possible. I've actually done it though I had to get a guy in to replace all the pieces of wall board I had to cut out.

If you're gonna loose sleep over it, pull that new receptacle and install a GFCI one.

'da Kid

The10mmKid said:

If you're gonna loose sleep over it, pull that new receptacle and install a GFCI one.

'da Kid

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While that will work, personally I avoid GFCI for circuits with refrigerators or freezers due to issues with undetected nuisance trips and spoiled food.

If its in an area that call for one, then of course code says do it.

Exactly how would a GFCI work if there is no ground?

If your wiring is of the armored variety (metal cased) and your box is metal the casing is grounded.

donbrew said:

Exactly how would a GFCI work if there is no ground?

If your wiring is of the armored variety (metal cased) and your box is metal the casing is grounded.

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A gfci only compares incoming and outgoing current. If there is an imbalance it trips. It doesn't need a ground.

donbrew said:

Exactly how would a GFCI work if there is no ground?

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Current returning to the source through any path other than the neutral wire will trip it. The path we have in mind here is, of course, a person touching the frame of the appliance when there is leakage between hot and the frame.

In the normal installation where the grounding wire is present it does not go through the doughnut in the GFCI. If current is flowing in that wire it represents a fault (current returning to the source through a path other than the neutral) and we want the device to trip.

I have now learned my new thing for the day! Thank you.

FYI, the current electrical code doesn't care about a dedicated refrigerator or freezer, GFIs must be in the circuit if your outlet is in the garage or unfinished basement.

I'd suggest running a ground, regardless of the difficulty. If you can't, change it to a 2-prong outlet. I have seen those at lowes.

I did some research before I put my kegerator on a GFI. The concerns are mostly over older fridges or freezers. They do make GFIs with alarms if you are concerned over it tripping and spoiling food. I have a freezer on a GFI in my basement, no problem. I have the kegerator on the same circuit as the garage door opener and outlets, also no problems.

mrstevenund said:

FYI, the current electrical code doesn't care about a dedicated refrigerator or freezer, GFIs must be in the circuit if your outlet is in the garage or unfinished basement.

I'd suggest running a ground, regardless of the difficulty. If you can't, change it to a 2-prong outlet. I have seen those at lowes.

I did some research before I put my kegerator on a GFI. The concerns are mostly over older fridges or freezers. They do make GFIs with alarms if you are concerned over it tripping and spoiling food. I have a freezer on a GFI in my basement, no problem. I have the kegerator on the same circuit as the garage door opener and outlets, also no problems.

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I have two freezers 12cf and 14 cf on one gfi drawing 4~5 amps and it never trips the room circuit.

I don't care about GFI for the fridg, I just want to know that I can run the fridg on a 3 prong even though it is only 2 prong wired.

cannman said:

I don't care about GFI for the fridg, I just want to know that I can run the fridg on a 3 prong even though it is only 2 prong wired.

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As others have said... you can, but not a good idea. there's a reason the 3rd prong is on there and now standard...

You can replace the outlet with a 2-prong, so the next guy knows it's not grounded. Or install a GFCI outlet (and technically you're supposed to add a sticker that comes with the GFCI that says "No equipment ground".) Or the best thing to do is run a separate ground wire back to the panel and replace the 3-prong outlet.

Before you do any of that, make sure the metal box isn't grounded via metal conduit or armored cable.