Nasal assault

[vvvexation]

So, rose42dance and I looked at an apartment today that was very spiffy--more spacious than any 2-bedroom we've yet encountered--and in a pretty good location as well. Only three problems: 1) no enclosed parking, which in Oakland could be a bad thing not to have; 2) the building's old, hence the electrical outlets are few, are all two-pronged, and I imagine there might be issues with the plumbing as well; and 3) the building, particularly the hallway on the way to this apartment, smells VERY STRONGLY of greasy Asian cooking. It's been several hours, I've had dinner since, and I keep fancying I can still smell it.

I don't think this bodes well for the possibility of living there comfortably.

*resolves to look at yet another batch of places*

Comments

Re: Outlet

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

You've got adapters in, I take it, for plugging in three-prong-type appliances?

Yup

[olego.livejournal.com]

Yea, I do. I think it's $1 apiece (sp?), but since Green and I use mostly extension cords, we only need 3-4 for the whole apartment.

Re: Yup

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

And you haven't had anything catch on fire?

Grounding

[olego.livejournal.com]

As far as I know, here in America one of the prongs is alternating from 0 to 170V, with RMS being 110, and the other one is 0 constantly. Grounding is for such appliances where a wire may break and touch the case, thus hurting the humans who are nearby; and to avoid that, grounding is connected straight to the case so that a short curcuit would happen immediately, keeping everyone alive. Again, I may be wrong; but this is what I recall from my Physics class.

So the lack of one should worry you if you have an old device and often go barefoot on moist floors. I haven't had anything happen, and, remember, my and Green's computers are on 24x7. So I really wouldn't worry about it. (As our landlord said, if you do, tie a wire to the water pipe, it'll be equivalent.)

If anyone wants to dispute me, by all means: I want to know if I've erred.