[Elecraft] Much OT - No "practical" solution

[Ken Kopp]

My older home .... built in 1962 by an individual for 
himself ... has only 2-wire Romex.  At least it's not
single conductor "knob-and-tube wiring.  Nothing in 
the house ...water pump, water heater, forced-air 
heat blower, etc. is "three-wire". (;-(

It's a 2-story structure and it's virtually impossible to 
rewire to meet present-day electrical codes without 
tearing off the interior wallboard and starting over.

The only way I can see to fix the problem would be
to drill completely through the wall to the outside 
at every outlet and add the "green wire" on the outside 
of the building and return the resulting "buss" to the 
entrance panel's ground.  A decidedly "ugly" solution,
even if painted to match the exterior color and doesn't
solve the issue of outlets on interior walls.  I -have-
replaced all outlets with "3-wire" types to avoid the 
usual cut-off-the ground-pin from household appliance
plugs, but there's nothing connected to the round 
holes. (;-)

Cutting groves in the wall board from each outlet down 
to the floor and hiding the ground buss under the kick-
board is possible but again, "ugly".  The walls have 
been painted of course and the kick-boards are stuck 
to the wall by paint.  Removing the kick-boards would 
damage the wallboard and still require its replacement.

There seems to be no realistic solution ...

I built my shack, garage and shop onto the house and 
they -DO- meet all codes.  There is a dediacated breaker 
panel feeding this addition and there are 17 ground rods 
on 2 acres, all bonded together with #10 CU buss wire 
and tied to the RF and AC entrance ground.  Two-inch
CU strap runs inder the wall into the shack and along
the back of the desk with 1/4" brass bolts with wing-nuts
for each piece of equipment.

I'm retired from an electric utility.

73! Ken Kopp - K0PP
k0pp at arrl.net
or
k0pp at acninc.net