Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Cheater plugs

Our apartment has only 2 prong outlets. Other than my dorm room in college, I've only lived in places with 2 prong outlets. So I'm rather familiar with cheater plugs.

One great annoyance to me is that they make the plug stick out an extra inch and a half from the wall. Does anyone know if someone makes a short extension cord style (like less than a foot long) 2 prong to 3 prong adapter? This would make furniture placement easier (not to mention hiding outlets from The Boy.)

I know that this is not necessarily the safest thing in the world, but tell that to my landlord and/or the people who make the safety regulations.

Heck, you could even have one of the little screw tabs on the extension. I try to use those whenever possible, which has caused its own problems, as they have a tendency to pull on the plugs and make them rather unstable in the socket.

Is using a cheater plug any better/safer than simply replacing the two-prong outlets with three-prong outlets that are not grounded? You could buy new outlets at Homeless Despot for about $1.50 each, flip the breaker, and swap them out in about 5 minutes.

That was another question I had that I had forgotten to ask.

Interestingly, when I have the cheater plugs screwed into the center screw on the plate, my various UPSes show no wiring fault. Without the screw, they freak out.

Yes, I suppose the outlet and box constitute "ground", albeit a poor one. Never mind. mdrew will probably be along shortly to chastise me for suggesting dangerous electrical shenanigans. I'm going back to my room now. NOW!

So... either way you're screwed!

It's a never ending problem with older houses. The worst is when you get to a new place (renting), it all looks grounded, but it aint. That annoys me. I have no problems (i.e. less problems!) if I make the conscious decision of bypassing the ground. Where I am now, my computer is not truly grounded, but the landlord did renovation two years ago and installed me a brand new grounded 15A circuit in the living room. So, at least my AV is with ground. BUT, the living room is also filled with these false grounded plates and I had to open one once and saw that it was a cheater...

After that long ranting, here's my point: if you are renting, please do not replace the wall plates as the next tenant might think it is grounded when visiting the appartment while it's not (and not sure you can trust the landlord if you asked the question).

I do have a friend who is an electrician. But I'm a little nervous about asking him that... he might sigh at me.

Eric, you have a good point there. I've made a number of changes to this apartment (yes, without LL approval, don't really give a damn), but this would be the only one that could decrease the value for a future tenant.

Right - I just assumed you'd undo the change when/if you moved out. I certainly wouldn't advocate perpetuating the scenario Eric described. Sorry for the confusion.

Ken, if it were me I'd replace the outlets and add a line to a TO UNDO WHEN WE MOVE list. If the UPS complains of no wiring fault on a two-prong outlet with the screw engaged, then it should do the same with a three prong outlet. I'd test this of course. You may need to run a short length of wire from the outlet to the box in order to get the same "grounding".

Well, before I do this (no matter how well intentioned my good buddies are here), I'd like to hear from an electrician about the safety of doing this. Presumably something like this is done in the bathroom and the kitchen which are required to have (and do have) 3 prong outlets.