Power conditioner vs use of a audio grade outlet?

What is PSU?

Power Supply Unit,

I have an older house and my wiring is only 2 conductors. I have just yesterday ( weird coincidence ordered the 20 amp leviton unit from amazon ( got the orange one for a few bucks cheaper. I am wondering if I should crawl under the house and run a ground rod to the ground part of this outlet or just put a jump over to the neg side and be done?

I have an older house and my wiring is only 2 conductors. I have just yesterday ( weird coincidence ordered the 20 amp leviton unit from amazon ( got the orange one for a few bucks cheaper. I am wondering if I should crawl under the house and run a ground rod to the ground part of this outlet or just put a jump over to the neg side and be done?

Oh dear dark goddess of the undworld..... no!! 🤣

@vaejoviscarolinanus

The correct thing to do is to use a GFCI outlet OR to have an electrician properly install a grounding electrode and bond it to the neutral at the service entrance. THEN and only then you run a ground to your outlets.

You don’t run a separate ground, and you sure as hell don’t tie your ground to the neutral anywhere else.

PS- Lacking a ground you can use GFCI for shock prevention when properly labelled, but surge protectors for the most part won’t work right.

@erik_squires  , it took a while, but I think I have finally comprehended the 15A/20A outlet subject.

But

Oh dear dark goddess of the undworld..... no!! 🤣

@vaejoviscarolinanus

The correct thing to do is to use a GFCI outlet OR to have an electrician properly install a grounding electrode and bond it to the neutral at the service entrance. THEN and only then you run a ground to your outlets.

You don’t run a separate ground, and you sure as hell don’t tie your ground to the neutral anywhere else.

for my continuing education only, NOT because I was ever considering doing this, could you explain for me why a separate ground is prohibited?  Again, this is strictly for my education on the subject.  Thank you.

@immatthewj

The ground conductors must be bonded to neutral at the service entrance. Otherwise you risk having neutral at one voltage and ground at another with high impedance between. In the event of a short to chassis the return current to neutral (perhaps up a pole or on a transformer pad) will be through the top soil which is high impedance, preventing it from working to trip breakers and fuses, leaving a potentially lethal voltage at the chassis.

By bonding ground and neutral at the service entrance you ensure a low impedance return to ground and if a short occurs increase the chance of tripping the breaker before melting a wire and starting a fire.

50 years ago netural was used as a way to ground chassis (the outer metal envelope of appliances) and experience taught us this was bad because neutral carries current, and when that current flows through a bad connection it raises the voltage on the neutral.

The ground wires may go bad, but they should not be carrying current except on an unexpected short, therefore the ground conductors remain at near 0 volts at all times except when a short occurs.

The formula V = I(current) * R(esistance) will help here. If I is 0, then V must be 0 even if R is high. That’s the normal state for the ground wire across your entire home.

Neutral often has current anytime you turn a switch on. Say 10A. Now 10A * R means V is not zero. If you tie that to the outside of your amplifier, you now have an AC voltage you can touch!

This is why 2-wire electrical construction is prohibited today.