Nope 
The freezer gets delivered next Saturday, so no looking at the plug until then. I would be willing to bet a large sum of money, though, that the plug is 3-pronged. In any case, read the heated discussion above. It ain’t that simple. I am pretty dumb about these things, but even I know people saw the ground plugs off or use adaptors. The question was whether that was truly dangerous.
David Simmons, codes? Codes? This is Detroit, buddy, we don’t need no stinkin’ codes. 
Seriously, I doubt my lovely (but old) flat would pass code inspection. There is one of those reset button outlets in the bathroom, but other than that, it is all plain old two-prongers. I had a grounded outlet put in for my computer surge suppressor, and the guy who did it connected the ground wire to the copper plumbing in the basement though a hole he drilled in the floor. There are similar other fixes around the place. Oh, and the dryer is gas.
I wouldn’t remove the grounding prong from the freezer. You might move to a civilized place like Pontiac someday and be able to use it. Buy a 3 to 2-prong adapter and use it.
The third wire ground is for safety. It is possible that the hot lead in the appliance will rub against the frame of the appliance and some day wear through the insulation thus connecting the metal frame of the thing to 110 v. Or some such thing. With the safety ground connected this will trip the breaker and keep people from getting hurt. This is a remote possibility with quality appliances but has been known to happen on rare occasions. Grounding the frame of electrical machines is always a good idea but isn’t necessary.
Then allow me to enlighten you…
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Fluorescent fixtures. Some require the metal reflector to be no more than 0.5” from the bulb and connected to earth ground. The reason has to do with starting… the bulb impedance is quite high during the starting phase, and current is produced via capacitive coupling with the (grounded) reflector. (Or something like that.) If the fixture’s reflector requires an earth ground and you fail to hook it up, starting can be very erratic.
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Surge protectors. Most surge protectors utilize MOVs, TVSs, and/or GDTs between hot and ground (and sometimes between neutral and ground) to attenuate normal-mode voltage transients. Failure to connect the earth ground will significantly decrease the surge protector’s effectiveness.
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Shielding. Some equipment utilizes shielding to block EMI radiating into the device and/or emanating out of the device. This includes sensitive radio receivers and amplifiers, switching power supplies, phase-fired controllers, and laboratory instruments. The shield is usually tied to earth ground.
>> NO DEVICE I’VE SEEN requires a ground
Requires it for what? To work? maybe. But the ground is a safety device intended to prevent electrocutions. Do you want to run the risk of electrocuting yourself or your wife or children?
I would include in the definition of “work” that it works as safely as it was designed for. A car may “work” without safety belts or even without lights or brakes.
This computer is run through 3 surge protectores - none grounded.
I stand by statement (the lightening rod was, however, close 
)
(electician steps up to the plate)
What Crafterman and David Simmons said!!!
They are dead nuts right on. The freezer WILL come with a three pronged plug. The third ground prong is for safety, what if your basement floods and and the freezer is in a puddle? Do NOT use an adapter. They always corrode and Ive never seen one secured properly. You CANT tell if your outlet boxes are or were grounded properly unless you know how to test them. Plus they may have lost the ground since they were installed if they were grounded originally. If the box that the outlet is in is piped with EMT (electrical metallic tubing) all the way back to the service then you are in luck. Simply turning off the circuit and replacing the two pronged outlet with a three pronged outlet will not suffice. You MUST ground the outlet. I will supply you with the “how to ground the outlet info” if you want me to. In short, you have to install a short jumper wire from the outlet(green screw) to the back of the box(threaded hole). The NEC spells this out.
If you need to bring over an electrician, the easiest and cheapest way to solve the whole problem would be to run a seperate circuit to where the freezer will go. In fact, I would recommend this anyway to prevent nuisance tripping of the circuit and food spoilage.
You shall NOT, under any circumstance, put the freezer on a GFCI protected circuit. This is inviting certain food spoilage. The NEC exempts outlets dedicated for freezers or fridges from GFCI protection.
Good point. Basements do flood. However, having been associated with electricity and electrical equipment for 40 years and having seen the things that can go wrong and being a certified coward, I never touch any kind of electrical equipment if I’m standing in water. Turn off the breaker or pull the fuze and then unplug the appliance and move it to a dry area.
If flooding is common, have someone build a wooden platform to put the thing on. And set it on a rubber mat. And then turn off the breaker or pull the fuze and unplug it before touching is there is water around.
Yoo-hoo, whuckfistle -
Your “if emt was used, the box is grounded theory” assumes that the service is grounded.
'Tain’t always the case.
Good lord, all this over how to plug in a freezer :rolleyes:
HAPPYHEATHEN ------ True, but its a damn good indication someone did the job right. If the basement was piped, and the nuetral is bonded in the panel to the panel, like 99.9999% of all services should be, then were ok here. What Im getting at is - the grounding conductor(the ground rod and the water supply) should be bonded to the panel along with the nuetral(the grounded conductor). You then have all these ground potentials terminating at the same location(the service panel) and all bonded together. There then is a very small chance that the panel and the pipe would not be grounded. You would need several failures for this to occur. I suppose you can always say "taint always the case" for most anything on this dear planet we live on.
Peace.
My house has several circuits running on emt - none of which are grounded - the discussion here concerns a “flat” - most folks do not know what a “flat” is. I do. I also know that most were built pre-WWII - service in such places is iffy.
My code requires all new wiring to be in emt - but does not mandate the installation of a ground. Where I live, your 99.999% is more like 30-40% (WAG - for 1-4 residential units only).
If you ever see a pre-1940 house “open for inspection”, check out the service - I suspect it will shock you.
enjoy.
I once rented a house where the dryer outlet had been installed by the owner. Of course I didn’t know that. I plugged in my dryer and got one hell of an electrical shock when I touched the case. A heated conversation with the owner revealed that he, too, had been shocked and had switched around the leads of his dryer’s pigtail, rather than re-do the wiring at the outlet. And, of course, he forgot to inform me of that little detail. The moral of the story is: don’t assume anything about wiring—test it and fix it if needed and DON’T fail to ground your appliances.
If in doubt, call a pro- It beats gettin` your ass kicked by by 110 volts.