Recently I moved to my new flat. I noticed that electrical outlets in my bedroom have no grounding (only outlets in the kitchen and the bathroom have grounding). The building was built in 1960s and idk if the electrical installation has been changed since then (it problably was). Is it safe to plug in my PC to this outlet? Could it damage my PC?
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UPS and surge protectors won’t work without ground.
No ground means there’s no place for a surge to go other than into your hardware. Hopefully, the PSU has robust protections.
Ground is also supposed to limit shorting and other dangers.
That being said, there are quite a few places in the world that haven’t required grounding. It’ll work without ground, but it’s a safety measure you’re missing.
Any piece of equipment with a switch mode power supply (e.g. pc psu) needs grounding. As part of how they work they will trickle a small amount of current into the earth. If not earthed will make the case of your pc live (not mains voltage, but I’ve seen 100v which is still dangerous)
Some bad soundcards ( most integrated are bad ) will emit more noise on ungrounded PSU. In my experience anyway
At an event I helped put on, others tried to use a TV that required ground, without ground. It wouldn’t turn on until we used ground.
You will get mini discharges when using your pc, if your keyboard has a metallic plate, and you are without any shoes for example. Or the case, or the motherboard backplate, etc.
It also creates noise in speakers/headsets/mic.
It can be very dangerous to run high voltage devices like a PC without a ground to keep things normal
As with all electrical questions, it’s better to consult a professional than reddit – you’ll sleep easier and avoid potential issues.
Actual electrician here: No, it’s not safe. Nevermind damaging the PC components, this is not safe ***for you*** to use.
A desktop computer (or it’s power supply, rather), is almost always a Class I appliance, which must be connected to mains outlet with a three-wire cable (the three wires being Line – L, Neutral – N, Protective earth – PE), and the outlet must have a grounding pin, which is connected to either PE or PEN.
This ensures the chassis of the PSU (and the PC case itself, by being physically connected to the PSU chassis) becomes tied to (electrical) ground.
If there was a fault to occur inside the PSU, it could cause the PSU chassis (and thus the PC case) to become live with full mains voltage (230V), and if the chassis is not connected to PE or PEN (which it won’t be if it’s plugged to this outlet), it will not trip a circuit breaker.
This outlet is not safe to use for anything other than Class II electrical apliances (those that have double insulation) or Class III electrical appliances (SELV). If you plug a Class I appliance to it, it will essentially become a Class 0 appliance, which are illegal EVERYWHERE in Europe (and not only there). For a good reason, I should add.
If you want to plug any Class I appliance to this particular outlet, the socket must be replaced with a compliant type that has ground pin (and of course the wiring has to be done properly inside the outlet).
There is a good chance that there is no separate PE conductor in the cable leading to this outlet, i.e. it might have just two wires: L(ine) and PEN (Protective Earth Neutral), aka it’s wired in TN-C.
That’s still acceptable for use, a grounded outlet can be wired to a TN-C network, just the neutral pin and ground pin will both be connected to the PEN, and after that, they must never again be re-connected.
RCD/GFCI may not be used in TN-C network, and because contemporary norms in EU countries require the use of RCD/GFCI on all outlets (with few exceptions), all new installations must be done in TN-S from breaker panels to outlets.
TLDR. Get an electrician to replace this outlet with a compliant one. Don’t connect your PC to it, if you value your life.
PS: by any chance, this is not in Norway, is it? Because in some parts of Norway they use a type of network called IT (isole-terre) that’s completely isolated off the ground. That would change things a bit…
I do wonder if that actually is grounded. In the US, receptacles with wall plates that screw on, the screw connects to ground. That screw on top might be ground. Would need a multimeter to verify.
Just in case you were thinking it:
*DON’T* use an extension cord from the kitchen.
*NEVER EVER* mix grounded and non-grounded appliances in the same room, unless the non-grounded are double-isolated.
In Europe, the electrical regulation states that ONLY outlets located in “wet” rooms should be grounded (kitchen and bathroom)
Some brand new houses are built with most of the “dry” outlets non-grounded because it saves (a few) bucks.
I fucking hate that
for functionality it’s not required
for safety it’s highly recommended
My house never had ground, and my pc through the years is still fine
My man I would not use an outlet without ground, that’s a core security measure, not a “nice to have” wtf
Grounding is for the safety of humans. You don’t want to touch an ungrounded metal chassis that has been made hot with live current.
I have a question. I’ve heard that people often bridge the neutral wire with a ground pin in their outlets in older buildings where there’s no proper ground wire. Is it relatively safe to use such outlet? what issues can it cause?
I burnt my ungrounded mobo by simply touching it with type-c charger. Ground it
Well, all rules aside. It depends on how good the electrical grid in your area is. Where I live, it is very stable, and I’ve used a pc on an ungrounded outlet for 10+ years without any issues.
No, but it can damage you.
Will it work? Yes. Will a power surge fry the shit out of it? Also yes.
Only once per pc
You can always ground your case to radiator in your room
The psu spits out current sometimes youll get slight shock on the case and might fry some ports.
Maybe get an electrician to change those. If it’s possible
living in an old house all my life without grounding, had like 5 PC’s, all fine. So i think its optional.
If it’s against code, your landlord has to upgrade all of the wiring. Write them a letter, keep a copy. In some US states you can now start withholding rent until that’s done.
If you rent or can’t afford an electrician to rewire the place I would get an inline gfci adapter if possible.
I have personally seen a fully electrified pc case from a bad power supply and no ground.
Most likely the EM protection circuit will put 110 V on the computer case. There shouldn’t be much current but you won’t like it.
Never had grounding on any outlet and ive never had any problems
At my parent place, there was also no ground in addition to the fact that in Brussels there is no neutral wire (yes this is a thing).
That was causing induced current in the ground cable between the plug and the power supply and I can tell you that the computer and especially the harddrives didn’t like it
Yes, just don’t risk your 2K rig…
Would PC parts come with grounding if it was not important ?
If you want to take care of your PC don’t plug it in there. Please ground it
I just switched my friends 2 prong North American outlets to 3 prong with ground , so they could safely plug their appliances in that used to use a 2 to 3 adapter, but the ground plate that you are supposed to screw in to the middle was ripped off on all of them. The plugs were less than a dollar each, and I told them to put anything important on a surge protector, otherwise use the outlets like normal now that they are grounded
Not a single plug in this old house has a grounding pin.
Every device here is a decent brand, and i haven’t had an issue in 15 years. including PCs/servers that run for over 10 years now.
The grounding pin is for protecting people. If you don’t have it, you should have low current earth fault relays in your electrical cabinet. (or however they call it in English)
It will during a power outage when it fries your ram
I have not had groundnon my pc’s for 3+ years now and it works fine. But i would not recomend it at all. I just dont have another choice atm, hopefully soon i can redo my electrics.
Your PC? Forget that, especially if the main transformer is grounded(taped) you will get a nice shock when you touch anything metallic on bare foot from your PC PSU due to the safety capacitors.
Only if you are unlucky
At this point, I wouldn’t even plug in a scented wax warmer without a ground after the amount of electrical knowledge humanity has gained by 2024. That’s just the robotics/building maintenance tech in me.