Outlet Conversion

Can he do the conversion? What would need to be done? Thanks.

He told me today that the breaker box is near the outlet. I suggested that since that is the case and with the wiring being 50+ years old, he just replace the wire with new and put in a new breaker. It's better to spend the money and do it right rather then burn the house down.

Thanks again.

I am not an electrician, use this information at your own risk. If you are unsure of anything consult a knowledgeable person in your area.

The bad news is that he needs a good proper nutral wire running back to the box, and we have no way of knowing if that is there or not.

You can't keep the 30 amp breaker - it will be a dounble throw, you will need a 15 or 20 amp single. 30 amp is too much for regular house 120.

There are so many variables with old electrical wiring, and it is possible to make something work while it is not done right, safely, or legally.

So, hard to answer the question other than 'possibly'.

How difficult is it to access the wire that exsists? It would be simpler to pull in new wire back to the breaker box, replace the 30a double pole breaker with a 15a single & do it right that way. As is, hard to tell what you got, and where to go to get what you need.

--->Paul

It is possible to measure ground rod resistance, albeit with the "ohms" scale on that Radio Shack VOM. There is a fancy technique involving three reference electrodes. Or there is the poor man's technique involving a good solid reference ground, one or two car batteries, an ammeter and a voltmeter.

I once drove a typical 5/8 ground rod 8 feet into moist soil. Curious to see how I did, I used the poor man's technique. Resistance was 16 ohms. Kind of disappointing. The next building I did with a 3/4 inch 10 foot ground rod. I had to stand on a ladder and drive the thing with 200+ blows with a sledgehammer. Result: 13 ohms. Lots of work for very little improvement.

The next project used a "Ufer" ground, basically 20 feet of rebar embedded in a concrete footing. This ground measured less than 3.5 ohms -- beyond the limits of my measurement technique. Much better than a ground rod -- but not appropriate to use as a return conductor.

The bottom line: driven ground rods are for lightning strikes and massive electrical surges, and not so great for even that. They are worthless and dangerous for acting as neutral returns.

my 2 cents