4ft Flouresent light without ground wire?

Question

I bought and wired a 4ft flourescent 1-light fixture for my blacklight bulbs but would like to know how unsafe(really what problems could i run into) if i just cut the ground wire from the cord, or for that matter use a 2 prong cord instead. Currently i have it ungrounded but would like to set it up where the fixture it self may be touched from time time. should i expect to get shocked?

Answer 1

If it's a three (3) prong w/ground then just hook the ground to the inside of the metal somewhere, that's where mine are hooked up. You shouldn't have to worry about these lights shorting out.

Answer 2

When an electrical fixture is working correctly, and your house wiring is also working correctly (in a perfect world), there would not be a need for the ground wire.

The Equipment Grounding Conductor is there for imperfect situations; such as fault conditions in the fixture, any of its components, or in your premises wiring. Then, that is the conductor that any fault current would travel on to trip the overcurrent protection and open that circuit.

If you live in a perfect world, go ahead, and take a chance by removing the ground prong from the cord; the rest of us would be well advised to leave it in place.

Those adaptors that are marketed to allow use of a 3 prong, grounded cord in a 2-slot, ungrounded receptacle are mostly useless, and dangerous. If you do not have a grounded premises wiring system, the adaptor, even when attached to the face plate s***w, will not provide a ground path. It can’t, because no ground path exists in the wiring system. All this does is give you a false sense of security, thinking you are protected when you are not.

The best advice is to never tamper with, or alter any electrical appliances, fixtures or devices.

Answer 3

You shouldn't be shocked unless something goes wrong.

That said:

1. Fluorescents work better when grounded.

2. If something does go wrong you don't want the shock.

Use the 3 wire cord & plug. There are adapters for

those old 2 prong outlets that ground to the box.

Get one.

Answer 4

As fluorescent lights tend to be in a sheet metal enclosure it is advisable to have them grounded, just in case a wire should happen to touch the metal., of course if they are in a position where they will never be touched, then it would be OK