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Ungrounded power cord: Will I die?

I'm always reading about the dangers of lifting ground from a power cord, especially in manufacturer manuals. Does this only apply to lifting ground from a grounded cord or just using an ungrounded cord, period? There are tons of devices in our homes that use ungrounded power cords (think wall wart). How is it possible that my house has not erupted into a ball of flames yet?

Anyway, I have a 2-prong power cord with a 3-prong IEC female end that came with my Luxman amp. I am getting the outboard power supply for my Calyx 24/192 DAC, but it requires an additional power cord. The Luxman cord sounds pretty good so I want to use that instead of spending another $500 to buy another one, which is +150% of the power supply itself!

What say ye?
eugene81
sonic_genius
528 posts
 
Yes. Let us know the date of your funeral. :) :)
bradluke0
163 posts
 
Hi all ! The insulation on the wire was burning and causing the smell I thought was bad food . Moral of the story.... dont mess around with any voltage , 120 volts will kill you as easy as 480v .
herman
2,263 posts
 
.

Ooooh, I see how you got confused about the smell, but 480 is a lot more likely to fry you than 120. My bet is if you had grabbed 480 you wouldn't be around to tell your story.
bradluke0
163 posts
 
Hi all ! I have been hit by 120 , 240 and 480v . None of them feel good . Some chillers are 4160 volts , never been hit by that , thank god . The reason I have been hit so much (aside from being dumb) is I have worked in airconditioning for 37 years and have had my hands in thousands of panels . Also , to this day I never wear any jewelery as I have seen a guy's wedding ring melted to his finger . I dont take the chances I did when I was younger .
hevac1
812 posts
 
Yes, under curtain conditions. Verify polarity.
If the polarity is reversed you can be shocked when touching another metal object that is grounded.
Same as above but with you standing in water with or without touching anything else, by by.
The 3 prong plug ground is mainly a bonding ground to the metal enclosure of the equipment so if anything shorts out and go's to ground it blows any number of fuses in the circuit.
If you lift the ground verify polarity especially if the plug tongs are the same size use a polarity a tester.
I have live through 120/208/277 & 460 volt hits.
The worst was 277 VAC.
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