Tweakers' Asylum

Concerned......

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This Post Has Been Edited by the Author

In Reply to: RE: Which new AC outlet with old house wring posted by SmokeTest on August 06, 2007 at 10:46:17

Why not call the owner of the rental property and ask him if he would have the bad receptacles replaced. Arcing between the plug and the receptacle is one of the primary causes of electrical fires. Arcing will not cause a fuse to blow.

Arcing causes heat. Age and heat causes the insulation of wire to become hard and brittle.
If you attempt to change out the receptacles yourself and the insulation is really old and brittle as you pull the old receptacle and wire out of the box to disconnect the old recept you could end up with two bare wires before you know it. What will you do then?
Call the landlord, he owns the property. Let him accept the responsibility.

By the way NEC 2005 states when changing out an existing non grounding 2 wire receptacle it must be replaced with a non grounding 2 wire recept, or in your case it could be replaced with a GFI recept. If a GFI recept is used the outlet shall have a label stating "No Equipment Ground".

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