How Dangerous Is this? Should I be scared?

Question

Yesterday my mom went on the treadmill. I guess she tripped over the outlet plug and the third prong came off. The grounding pin. I went down to see what she was yelling about and I watched my dad say, Oh it's fine! And plug it back in! I remembered a story I heard from a fire fighter about a kid who did that to his desk top computer  and he got electrocuted and his room caught on fire. The kid died.

I don't think I've ever run so fast in my life, I ran out of my basement and got on a high wood chair (insulator) nothing happened and my mom was fine, nobody has used the treadmill since though. I want to use it but I'm freaking out. I'm too scared of it short circuiting and having no where for the electrons to ground because the grounding pin is gone. My house is old and I'm not sure if its grounded or not. Am I over reacting? It's a big treadmill and I'm too scared to use it but I need to workout! Please help me!

Also, I asked my dad if he was going to get it fixed and he said no. I think I'm Dad is an idiot...

Roger K · Accepted Answer

It should be fixed, and it is no big deal at all to buy a three prong plug at a hardware store, cut off the old plug and put on the new one - paying attention to connecting the wires to the same prongs as the old one. That's what I would do. 10 minute job to replace it.

It <<could>> be dangerous if some energized section of wiring in the treadmill is worn and comes into contact with a part of the treadmill that conducts that charge to the frame.

There are inexpensive plug testers that can be found in most hardware stores. You plug it into an outlet and small lights turn on to tell you if it is OK, or has one of several different problems. If that outlet is not grounded anyway, then the machine has been running ungrounded since it was first plugged in. Not a good idea.

Something like this will test the outlet:

http://www.amazon.com/ELECTRICAL-RECEPTACLE-TESTER...

If you have a pair of wire cutters and a screw driver, you could fix the plug yourself. Even a meat cleaver would do to cut off the old plug. Just do that cleaving on a piece of scrap wood, not concrete or the treadmill track.

Gary H · Answer

There is no reason to be scared.  There is a good reason that the electrical codes were changed and almost all electrical cords have 3 prongs now but, as other answer said, there would have to be serious problems with other parts for the missing prong to hurt anyone.

But, if you want to be safe, as the one good answer says, you can fix this yourself quite easily.  Your local hardware store will sell you a plug for a couple bucks.  Ask them to show you how to wire it to the cord (and read the instructions on the package).  Be sure to unplug the old cord BEFORE you cut it.  Then the only tricky part (which is not that tricky) is cutting off the insulation on the 3 individual wires (black, white and green probably) the "right" length.  There will probably be a picture or a guide imprinted on the plug showing you the right length.   good luck

Triton · Answer

Your Dad is right.  This is not a big deal.  The treadmill would have to be totally defective for this to even come close to hurting anyone.  

And I DO NOT recommend that you try to fix the plug yourself.  Inexperienced workmanship can create exposed live wires which would be far more dangerous than a broken grounding pin.  Let your Dad know you're worried and maybe help him buy the replacement plug and some electricians tape and let him fix it.

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How Dangerous Is this? Should I be scared?

3 Answers