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Ungrounded power cord: Will I die?

I'm always reading about the dangers of lifting ground from a power cord, especially in manufacturer manuals. Does this only apply to lifting ground from a grounded cord or just using an ungrounded cord, period? There are tons of devices in our homes that use ungrounded power cords (think wall wart). How is it possible that my house has not erupted into a ball of flames yet?

Anyway, I have a 2-prong power cord with a 3-prong IEC female end that came with my Luxman amp. I am getting the outboard power supply for my Calyx 24/192 DAC, but it requires an additional power cord. The Luxman cord sounds pretty good so I want to use that instead of spending another $500 to buy another one, which is +150% of the power supply itself!

What say ye?
eugene81
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
3,575 posts
 
One could go technical with requirements (double insulation, clearances, leakage currents etc), but why?
Take Herman's sound advice "If it came with a three prong plug then safety standards dictate it should be there"
Logical and simple.

You can play with ICs, speaker cables etc. but this (safety) has to be done by the book.
eugene81 OP
164 posts
 
"If it came with a three prong plug then safety standards dictate it should be there"

OK, so since my amp came with a two prong plug it should be safe to use with the amp even though the amp has a 3 prong inlet?
eugene81 OP
164 posts
 
I guess even if the amp is safe to use with an ungrounded cord, they might put a 3-prong inlet for use with all of the other aftermarket power cords out there.

So the moral of the story is: It depends on the device. Stick to what it came with.
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
Herman and Bombaywalla must be brothers...
Or at least friends.
Always good to hear from folks who are critics...
bojack
539 posts
 
Yes, you will very likely die. In 1987, my cousin burst into flames when he plugged in his ungrounded Technics TR19 tape deck. The manual clearly warned the user about this, but he was one of those "I don't need the manual" types. Don't become a statistic, and use caution whatever you do.
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