[ale] OT: Running computers in an older home (read older circuitry)

[Bjorn Dittmer-Roche]

On Thu, 19 Feb 2004, John Wells wrote:

> Guys,
>
> My wife and I have found a house here in Greensboro we really like, but
> I have a few concerns.  The house is approx. 54 years old, with an
> addition on the back that's approx. 15-20 years old.  The addition has
> grounded, three prong outlets, but the front portion of the house, where
> my "office" would be, have the older two pronged, non-grounded outlets.
>
> On a given day, I run a 120 mhz firewall/router, a 900 mhz Athlon, a
> 2200XP+ Athlon (1800mhz) with a lot of components, and a 2.0 Ghz laptop
> pretty much 24/7.
>
> What are the concerns with going into a house like this with my power
> usage?  I do know that it's on a circuit breaker system...not fuse box.
> And I plan on having an electrician come in a replace one outlet with a
> grounded, dedicated circuit so my computers will all plug into this
> outlet.
>
> Anything I'm missing or not considering?  I've never purchased a home
> with old wiring so I'm a little wary, but we're probably putting an
> offer in today.  I know that grounding all outlets in the house will
> probably be pretty darned expensive, so if I don't have to, I don't want
> to!
>
> Let me know asap if you have any comments/suggestions.  Thanks guys!


John,

	There have already been some (dubious) suggestions. There are a
lot of issues, most of which should be solved by a professional
electrician and a good circuit tester and/or multimeter. A neighbor of
mine just lost his TV, computer, phone and some other electronics due to a
combination of bad wiring and bad weather. Hire a pro and double check it
yourself.

Having a good UPS/power filter is, of course a very good idea.

Congrats on the house!!!

	bjorn