Non-Grounded Outlets

Hi, CPAP family.

I am moving to a place with two-prong outlets that aren't grounded. Is that safe for my ResMed S9? Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

tattooyu wrote:Hi, CPAP family.

I am moving to a place with two-prong outlets that aren't grounded. Is that safe for my ResMed S9? Any suggestions?

does your s9 have a grounded plug?

I wouldn't worry about it, virtually all modern CPAPs just use a two conductor cord I notice that CPAP.com sells replacement cords for Res-Med S-8/S-9 machines that is obviously a two conductor cord that has the old style 2 prong AC plug. My last Res-Med was a year 2000 Sullivan with a two conductor cord, and my present Intellipap machine has a two conductor cord.

TheDuke

I do use a quality surge protector. I have read that in California, the power grid has unreliable enough volts/current that over time it damages the power supplies, TV's and things such as that use. A surge protector would not help in regard to poor electricity. xPAP's seem to be more durable than a lot of other things.

tattooyu wrote:Hi, CPAP family.

I am moving to a place with two-prong outlets that aren't grounded. Is that safe for my ResMed S9? Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Hi from the Sacramento area -- I had to use my S9 in a two-prong ungrounded outlet for about 6 months and everything was fine. Had I planned to be there long-term I was going to look into the cost of grounding a single outlet in the house.

purple22 wrote:I do use a quality surge protector. I have read that in California, the power grid has unreliable enough volts/current that over time it damages the power supplies, TV's and things such as that use. A surge protector would not help in regard to poor electricity.

oh, those poor californians, electronics exploding all over the place.

funny, you don't hear about it in the news.

purple22 wrote:I do use a quality surge protector. I have read that in California, the power grid has unreliable enough volts/current that over time it damages the power supplies, TV's and things such as that use. A surge protector would not help in regard to poor electricity. xPAP's seem to be more durable than a lot of other things.

If you're having voltage spikes or brownouts most surge protectors won't do anything for that. If it's a big enough concern get yourself a decent size UPS unit that will clean up the power for you. Preferably one with a an "alarm silence" button on the front of it so that if the power actually does go out completely you can roll over, turn off the humidifier, kill the alarm and sleep through the night.

Many older houses have two prong outlets.
They have for years.
Occupants usually don't give it a second thought.
Some of the biggest hazards are from using damaged or undersized cords.

tattooyu wrote:Hi, CPAP family.

I am moving to a place with two-prong outlets that aren't grounded. Is that safe for my ResMed S9? Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

The two-prong outlets should be much less of a concern to you than the type of home wiring if you are moving into an older home. Plastic insulated wiring did not begin to appear until around 1960 (prior to 1960's, wire was generally insulated with cloth, which disintegrates with time) and you should consider re-wiring a home built prior to then to mitigate fire hazards.

DreamStalker wrote:
The two-prong outlets should be much less of a concern to you than the type of home wiring if you are moving into an older home. Plastic insulated wiring did not begin to appear until around 1960 (prior to 1960's, wire was generally insulated with cloth, which disintegrates with time) and you should consider re-wiring a home built prior to then to mitigate fire hazards.

Even houses built post 1960 have plenty of electrical issues, trust me. When the electricians arrived in May to do the work, the estimate climbed by $2000 inside of one morning, combining copper and aluminium wires is also a big problem. (Not to mention DIY done by people who have no clue)

BlackSpinner wrote:

DreamStalker wrote:
The two-prong outlets should be much less of a concern to you than the type of home wiring if you are moving into an older home. Plastic insulated wiring did not begin to appear until around 1960 (prior to 1960's, wire was generally insulated with cloth, which disintegrates with time) and you should consider re-wiring a home built prior to then to mitigate fire hazards.

Even houses built post 1960 have plenty of electrical issues, trust me. When the electricians arrived in May to do the work, the estimate climbed by $2000 inside of one morning, combining copper and aluminium wires is also a big problem. (Not to mention DIY done by people who have no clue)

Agreed .... there was a bad period of using cheaper Al wire instead of Cu wire during the 1980's (however, most of those included grounded outlets per building code). I had a home where I had to completely replace all the aluminum wire ... don't do it during the summer cuz the attic gets really hot.

DreamStalker wrote:
Agreed .... there was a bad period of using cheaper Al wire instead of Cu wire during the 1980's (however, most of those included grounded outlets per building code). I had a home where I had to completely replace all the aluminum wire ... don't do it during the summer cuz the attic gets really hot.

Luckily it ended up being just one wire going to a subpanel. However the subpanel was corroded, old and blew sparks when the breakers were thrown. So it and the wire got replaced. None of the outlets except those in the kitchen were grounded and those were done wrong so all the kitchen circuits had to be rerun and brought up to code. They put a GCI (those bathroom plugs) at the beginning of each run. In all we had over $6000 worth of electrical work done - we are now completely up to code and inspected.

It is sad when all the trades want to take pictures for their apprentices on how not to do electrical & plumbing.

The third wire ground is mainly to protect from shock, from faulty appliances. In the real world most things are double insulated or non conductive, making 3 wire unnecessary. No matter how mush you spend on upgrading your stuff, the rules will be changed requiring another upgrade. Keep the money flowing. i have lived in 4 houses in 50 years, none have been up to code, and you haven't seen me take a bath holding my toaster, why that taught us older people to be smarter, and the cord is too short to reach the tub too.

We keep making people dumber, and life more costly. In Nam, I ran the Motor Pool off spiral four telephone cord 400 ft buried a foot deep in the ground. worked fine until you went over 1800 watts. Jim

Goofproof wrote:The third wire ground is mainly to protect from shock, from faulty appliances. In the real world most things are double insulated or non conductive, making 3 wire unnecessary. No matter how mush you spend on upgrading your stuff, the rules will be changed requiring another upgrade. Keep the money flowing. i have lived in 4 houses in 50 years, none have been up to code, and you haven't seen me take a bath holding my toaster, why that taught us older people to be smarter, and the cord is too short to reach the tub too.

We keep making people dumber, and life more costly. In Nam, I ran the Motor Pool off spiral four telephone cord 400 ft buried a foot deep in the ground. worked fine until you went over 1800 watts. Jim

I would agree with you except where the corroded subpanel was shooting out flames and the light fixture in the ceiling had wires which flaked in my hands when I tried to change it. Also it is nice to plug in an appliance and not blow the circuit (i am a kitchen gadget junky, I admit it, I love my gadgets). Besides inspection to make sure we were up to code was one of the requirements for the grant we got. Plus we may sell the house in the future and that report will help us in this neighbourhood.

BlackSpinner wrote:

Goofproof wrote:The third wire ground is mainly to protect from shock, from faulty appliances. In the real world most things are double insulated or non conductive, making 3 wire unnecessary. No matter how mush you spend on upgrading your stuff, the rules will be changed requiring another upgrade. Keep the money flowing. i have lived in 4 houses in 50 years, none have been up to code, and you haven't seen me take a bath holding my toaster, why that taught us older people to be smarter, and the cord is too short to reach the tub too.

We keep making people dumber, and life more costly. In Nam, I ran the Motor Pool off spiral four telephone cord 400 ft buried a foot deep in the ground. worked fine until you went over 1800 watts. Jim

I would agree with you except where the corroded subpanel was shooting out flames and the light fixture in the ceiling had wires which flaked in my hands when I tried to change it. Also it is nice to plug in an appliance and not blow the circuit (i am a kitchen gadget junky, I admit it, I love my gadgets). Besides inspection to make sure we were up to code was one of the requirements for the grant we got. Plus we may sell the house in the future and that report will help us in this neighbourhood.

life is so simple in goofy's world, the gubmint is the enemy and everybody else are stupid slackers. it's easier than thinking, innit?