>  I was appalled to find that when I visited a
> new friend's house in New York, that the sockets didn't have earthing, but
2-to-3 pin convertors were plugged
> in (often with multi-way extensions connected) with a tiny earth lead
*sometimes* clamped by one of the
> mounting screws.

The NEC (National Electrical Code) has a partial solution to the two prong
outlet problem, where no ground is available. The code permits the
installation of a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) device, which can
have three prongs. Additional three prong outlets can be wired downstream
from the GFCI. All such outlets, including the GFCI have to be labelled to
indicate that there is no ground. I guess the idea is the GFCI protection is
better than nothing.

Bob Ammerman
RAm Systems

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