Question What to do with ungrounded power outlets that cannot be reasonably grounded ?

[Caesium133]

Found out newly bought house has 3 pronged outlets that are not grounded. Apparently they were not grounded because to get to the wiring the electrician would have needed to dig through part of a wall which contains asbestos. I cannot afford to pay for a costly asbestos removal any time in the foreseeable future.

I've been told changing all the outlets to gfc outlets would at least keep us humans safe from getting fried if something goes wrong, but that would be useless for our fairly expensive computers, as we still wouldn't have ground for a surge protector. I've seen that "whole house" surge protectors exist. I am wondering about the viability of using both those things, making all the outlets gfc and using the whole house surge protector since that seems many times cheaper than asbestos removal and house rewiring which is just an impossibility for me for a long time to come.

Can any one offer some feedback about this any better ideas? I've also seen a lot of posts about pcs tripping gfc outlets, but I'm not sure if that's rare cases where the psu is just not that great (I have a 120$ Seasonic model that seems good quality so hopefully that makes a difference?). Can you typical use a pc on a gfc outlet with out it tripping provided nothing is wrong with the pc or anything else plugged into it / into the pc?

Worried that I've been screwed over with this and then it'll be a problem both for me living here and trying to sell the house without major $ loss if ever I need to move.....

 

[Ralston18]

A major loss would be a house fire if the electrical issues are not properly identified and fixed.

Or someone getting hurt, burned, or worse.

You need a proper electrical inspection by a qualified electrician/inspector to test and document the electrical issues.

Then you can look into what all was or was not done when the house was inspected prior to purchase.

Very likely there are local agencies that you can contact for assistance. Contact your real estate agent.

How long ago did you purchase the house? Any home owner warranties with the purchase?

Contact your home owner's insurance. There may be some coverage for the cost of repairs.

Unfortunately, the issues at hand are not and should not be addressed via a computer forum.

Much more at stake than computers and other home electrical devices.

Be safe.