Grounding of computer

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@Booper wrote:

I have my Dimension 8250, plugged into a power surge strip, which in turn is plugged into the electrical outlet in the wall. The wall recepticle does not have a grounding plug hole (for the 3-pronged surge strip cord) so I have a two-pronged adaptor which is then attached (screwed) to the wall recepticle - and that is how my computer is grounded ( I hope!).

I was told that there is a magnetic field which builds up & collapses, when turning the computer on and off, and that this could harm the computer! We have an older house and most of the outlets where I use my computer do not have the 3-pronged electrical outlet. I am a novice at this type of thing so I have the following questions:

1. Am I really "grounding" my computer properly?

2. Is this magnetic field collapsing true?

3. What is proper "grounding" and how important is it/

      I would greatly appreciate

1. Likely you aren't.  On a house with modern wiring, the screw on the faceplate goes into the outlet, and the outlet is grounded via a grounding wire to the house circuitry which goes to a stake into the ground.  On your house there is no grounding wire in the system, so the screw is just a screw.  While I'm not an electrician, it would seem to me that if you ran a ground wire to a stake into the ground outside and then to the screw on the outlet that you could ground that particular three wire adapter.  However, your PC is not the only device in your house that has this issue.  How about your refrigerator?  Washing machine?

2) NEVAHURDOFIT.

3) Very important, see #1.

If there are only two wires in the outlets, black and white, and no green wire inside the box, it is possible there is not proper grounding in the house. Stores like Home Depot or Lowes have testers that are not expensive that could give you an idea of whats going on in your circuits. Incorrect grounding might be a serious safety issue with other appliances and electrical devices in your house. If unsure, contact an electrician.

The screw does provide some grounding, but typically not very much.  It is meant more for low-voltage, low-cost devices, like a weed trimmer or something, from many years ago.  It is certainly not adequate grounding for a PC.

At its simplest, "grounding" means giving electricity somewhere to go besides your expensive electrical equipment, in case there's too much of it.  Generally, you want it to go into the ground (hence the name).  The screw is meant to direct electricity into the metal components in the wall and such, and as a result provides very little protection.  The earth, you may have noticed, is much larger, so it can absorb a lot more.

I can't stress enough how important it is to hie thee to an electrician so that he can put a ground wire in.  It won't cost you much and it's well wirth the extra protection.  Mind you, you still need a good, solid surge protector.  Good luck!

If you have a really old house, you could have knob and tube wiring.  Most of the electricity run in our house is run this way.  With k&t, only the hot and neutral wires are run to each outlet.  The only chance you have for a ground is running it yourself.  A good way to check what type of wiring you have is by taking a trip to the attic or basement.  If you see wires wrapped around ceramic insulators you have k&t.   Also be aware that you can't tell what kind of wiring you have by looking at the outlet.  In our case, some of the rooms in our house have newer plugs with the indoor conduit running along the baseboard.  I originally thought it was great that we had some newer stuff run.   Come to find out, the newer stuff is hooked to the original knob and tube extending the circuit even further.    Your best bet is to talk to an electrican.  They don't have to tear out walls to rerun wires and you can be assured that it's done correctly.