Electrical advice needed!

[ausamerika]

Originally Posted by Rob71

Pull the coverplate off and see if there is a metal box. Your home could have gone through a renovation at some point and it could have been replaced with a plastic box. If it's plastic that's why it's not working. Also if you can get a look at it, try to get a look at the wires going into the box. Old houses sometimes use metal clad wire(BX) in which case that and your metal box would be the ground. How far is the outlet from the breaker box? If it's close by or hopefully on the same wall you could just replace the wiring.

Also something to think about, are you sure they sent you an electrician and not a handyman? If not maybe call an electrician yourself and ask what it would cost to make the repair. They shouldn't charge you anything for the estimate.

The box is definitely metal. The guy that came out claimed to be the only electrician employed for our 'village', and insisted that the boxes in the house were not grounded. It's really frustrating, b/c their line is that ground just isn't that important. Plus, the jack I guess used to be a 240 jack to support the old window air-conditioning units, so there's a red wire in there too.

Another question tho: there is an already-being-used grounding rod right outside the window next to my entertainment system. This may be a stretch, but can I just run a length of wire out to that grounding rod?