www.slashgear.com: Though it's far less of an issue today than it was in years past, it's still possible that you have (on at least one occasion) found yourself holding a three pronged electrical plug while looking at a two pronged electrical outlet. If that is the case, you've likely wondered whether or not it was safe to try and plug the three-pronged head in the outlet anyway.
8 comments:
I feel like this article is extremely important, and should be required knowledge for anyone going to work in a theatre. I have personally seen many ground pins broken off, so that a 3 prong plug could fit into a 2 prong plug. As stated by the article, this can be a really big fire hazard. This also simply does not make very much sense, as the ground pin protects the device that is plugged in. I always want my valuable electronics to be as protected as they can be. Using adapters to make a 3 pin plug fit into a 2 pin plug poses the same risks as stated above. This is very similar to the hazard that linking of many extension cables and power strips causes. I have personally seen many videos of electronics getting fried and carpets being set on fire because of someone being irresponsible and lazy with their wiring setup.
I have been in a situation where I have only had 2 prong outlets and had to use a "ground lifter"to accommodate it so I could use it. This article really allowed for me to see all of the risks commonly avoided with this topic. Aside from personal safety this article also addresses the impact on your own devices. I know for sure that I would not any damage done to my personal electronics, something that grounding can help with. Overall I really liked this article and found it quite applicable to everyday life!
This was Lucca
As someone who has done this on multiple occasions I found this short article very interesting. I feel like if grounding prongs are so important then there shouldn't be two prong plugs/inputs and only be 3 prong plugs/inputs. Since it is apparently dangerous to do that then all plugs should probably be made the same way so that an electrical fire doesn't happen.
This is extremely important to inform more people about. As a kid, even before getting into tech, I would always force my cold computer’s three pronged plug into a two prong outlet. I and many people around me did not realize how hazardous this was and how I could have gotten seriously injured during this period of time. It wasn’t until my mom - who started working in tech around this time - finally noticed and put an end to it, warning me about the risks and lecturing me. If my mom hadn’t stopped me, I could possibly not be here today or could have caused major damage to my home or my auditorium when I finally started working in tech. My auditorium when I finally started theater tech would be at a particularly high risk, as our set up in the booth for a very long time had crossed wires, extension cords and surge protectors working overtime, and overall it was a fire hazard in itself. I would hate to imagine someone failing to recognize the danger of not handling a three prong correctly in that environment. I know so many people who do not know that this could be potentially dangerous, and I believe that this information needs to be spread around more.
While it should be clear to most that removing the grounding pin on a three pin prong to get it into a two prong outlet is the incorrect way to power your device, what was more surprising to me about this article was it’s discussion of two prong to three prong adapters and that most of the time these adapters do nothing to actually implement the use of the grounding prong in the system. Upon further reflection this does make sense as it is simply just connecting the two prongs to the outlet without needing the grounding prong, but nonetheless this was something I was unaware of and will now be considerably more mindful of when using my own electronics. Further, what was surprising is that when using such an adaptor it rarely is indicated that the same risks you run for removing the grounding pin entirely are present for using this adaptor (unless there is a more complicated version of this product that does carry out this function). Once again, even if something looks simple, it still may be dangerous.
At work and school I am extremely cautious about electrical safety and maintaining practices that are both healthy for equipment and for other's safety. In older buildings and theatres there should be more signage about these risks. However, at home I use outlet adapters all the time. I had never seen a two pronged outlet until I moved into my crumbling house in PA for college. I think it’s more irritating than dangerous, as opposed to my responsible roommate who frequently fears for me and my other roommate's electronic and appliance charging choices. Adapters are cool and awesome and I don’t think my landlord will ever replace the 82 two pronged outlets in our fragile home. I wonder what would happen if we requested him to change some of the outlets...maybe I should send him this article. I will probably look for fancier adapters that have a grounding feature moving forward.
As someone who recently moved into an apartment that has a whole bunch of 2 prong outlets, this was a well-timed coincidence for this article to pop up. I have found myself incredibly frustrated recently by carrying around a 3 prong plug and the outlet that’s in the perfect spot to plug it in is tragically a 2 prong outlet. Since a lot of older architecture has this, and I could definitely see how somebody without knowing much about outlets could very easily get a cheap adapter or modify a plug and accidentally injure themselves pretty badly, articles like this are a very important way to spread awareness about how dangerous plugs and electricity can be, and how easy it is to damage either your electronics or yourself. Honestly, what really sucks in my opinion is the fact that there aren’t really any requirements for old outlets to be updated, so landlords and people can just leave potentially dangerous/ungrounded outlets.
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