Un-grounded Outlets burning out laptop?

Question

I am a few months in to my first buy and hold property. I purchased an older four unit building that needs work and I am prioritizing work and upgrading when I can.

The outlets are not grounded and I was aware of this from inspection and I already had a quote to run new wiring throughout the building. I just haven't done it yet because of other projects popping up.

My tennant just contacted me that her laptop and microwave are "fried". Is it obvious that the ungrounded outlets are causing this?

Should I reimburse the tennant for her property?

Account Closed · Answer

No, absolutely not. Unrelated. Electronics don't "fry", that's what dumb people say when they break them.

Your lack of grounds could cause an electric shock, which I would be much more concerned about the liability of, but will not "burn out" anything.

Stephen Joyner · Answer

Everyone so far have given you good advise on this. So you know missing a ground can not nor will it damage any electrical equipment. The ground is used incase of a small spike in electrical current. It is to protect the end user so they are not the shortest path to ground. A lose neutral in the panel or at the device could cause a problem and shorten the life of the equipment. Most electrical equipment are not even effected by the hot and neutral reversed. Most new electrical equipment can reverse polarity to protect it self from damage. A spike it in the power grid or a brown out (lower voltage) in the electrical grid could cause these same issues. The problem I see here is that your tenant is not complaining of light bulbs have a short life span. Or dimming flickering of lights. Because if your tenant was having electrical issues these things will also have issues. Loose neutrals will cause flickering, and short life span of lights. Over voltage will cause lights to be brighter and short life span of lights. Brown outs cause dim lights. I have seen when the electrical transformers fails can cause all these problems. With all this being said if you notice these issues you should have a electrician come out and take  look  at the panels and test the voltage to see if the voltage is correct.

Tyler Green · Answer

Thanks for all the responses.

I told her I would test the outlet. She replied admitting that she should have been using a power strip.

In retrospect, I have no great excuse for putting off the electrical work. Thanks for pointing out that this should have been priority. I have replaced a water heater, furnace, bathroom sink, gas range and I am having new doors installed. As I said, I'm a newbie managing the property myself. First few months have been eventful.

Jeff B. · Answer

Go back and verify that the Neutral and Hot are not crossed - - This WILL ruin equipment which has a three pronged cord and gets mated to a two prong outlet via a converter.

Any hardware store can provide an outlet polarity tester ~$7-$8

Account Closed · Answer

Not anymore they don't. Most newer laptops have a really small power supply in the "wall wart" style. They only have a two prong plug. It looks about the same as a cell phone charger.

Account Closed · Answer

I agree with this. The simple testers with 3 lights are great. If they are crossed it could cause *some* electrical problems.

Laptop power supplies in particular are very tolerant of a wide range of voltages, often rated for 100-240v or more. They are designed to work on world wide AC power, in places with hugely different standards.

If you have a power surge, it can destroy the power supply on a laptop, but it is unlikely to "fry" or otherwise break the laptop itself.

Jeff B. · Answer

BTW: ALL laptops have a Three prong plug to the battery charger and a unique cable from it to the laptop.  In this configuration, it would be impossible to "blow up" the laptop but might damage the battery charger !!

Leon D. · Answer

The grounding (or not) of a particular outlet has no effect on equipment, only people. If something "fried," it may very well just be from a surge, and that you really have no control over. 1) Tell her to use a surge protector. Don't tell her that she was dumb for not using one with her computer to begin with, just keep that part to yourself. 2) If you don't already, insist that any new tenants and your current ones if/when they renew there leases, or with 30-90 days notice depending on local laws/ordinances, show you proof of renter's insurance.

All that said, how serious are the other problems in the building that electrical is low on the list? Make sure that you're not in violation of any building codes, I'm reasonably certain for example that GFCI's are required within X feet of an interior water tap almost everywhere in the country.

Un-grounded Outlets burning out laptop?

Most Popular Reply