2 very boring questions, but relevant to me

[Meatball]

<p>10pm on one of the hottest nights this year:</p><p>I live in a manhattan brownstone &quot;walk up&quot; and the whole building lost power tonight - poof&nbsp; - a total blackout in our building. We are 7 small apts and a restauraunt on the ground floor. ANyway COn-ed sent a emergency truck but they wouldnt do anything - the guy claimed the power is fine going to the box in the basement , but the building has a inferior box (20 amps) and it needs to be like...150. He told us to&nbsp; call a Electician. This was told to me by the restaraunt owner..but when i walked over to the Con Ed guy in the truck, he went into some convoluted diatribe about hands washing hands, and respect not given by restaraunt guy. I can only assume he COULD have fixed the problem but didnt because he wasnt offered any money.</p><p>Thank god an electrician did come and fix the problem (it was back on by 12am)&nbsp;because its one HOT NIGHT!.&nbsp;</p><p>But whats with Con Ed playing games like that? </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>and unrelated second question: my apt has only &quot;2 prong&quot; outlets. You know the type, old fasioned 2 vertical holes. No third in any outlet. So my stereo, tv, comuter etc.. all funnel through power strips then to&nbsp;adapters from&nbsp;3 to&nbsp;2 holes. I dont think this is very safe, but i was wondering if anyone who rents knows if its a big deal to get my landlord to rewire my apt? and HOW unsafe am i being?</p>

[IamFogHat]

Spicy meat-a-balls are generally unsafe...but what would life be without them?

[PapaBear]

<p>It's not likely the landlord will rewire. It would be too expensive. I've always purchased one of those adapters (don't know what they're called). The adapter will have a metal thing sticking out of the two pronged side (kind of like a washer). Remove the screw from the center of the outlet cover, and plug in the adapter. When you replace the screw, make sure it goes through the metal ring. That should create a ground. Then make sure you use a good surge protector for anything that's plugged in there.</p>

[reeshy]

Make sure you wash your hands thouroughly before doing this...keeps the dust factor down....what?....no, you don't have to dry your hands before working on the outlet!!!!!!<br />

[JustJon]

When I've had the adapters in the past, there was a wire coming off the side that you are supposed to screw onto the the screw in the middle of the plate over the electrical outlets.<br />

[newport king]

<p>he probably got shit form the restaurant owner and could have fixed it but con ed isn't responsible on anything past said box.</p><p>and that round prong on your cords are just for the ground...you can snap those off. if lightning hits you might have a problem but chances of that are remote.</p>