Update Old Outlets to New

[OdieTurbo]

Okay, house was built in 1914. Wiring was replaced at some point so now I have 2-wire metal shielded cable throughout the 1st floor (2nd floor was upated to 3-wire).

Many appliances etc need 3 wire outlets. What is the proper (safe) way to do this?

One way is to upgrade the 1st floor wiring, but that is a few months off at least. What should I do in the meantime?

Last owner used 3to2 adaptors.

[pushkins]

Basically your two wire outlets don't have a ground, they have a hot and a neutral (two holes) As you mentioned your going to upgrade in a few months there really is probably little you "have" to do right now, until then you can use the two to three adapters or you could replace the outlets in concern with three hole outlets (hot, neutral and ground) you just won't be able to hook up a ground wire for obvious reasons.
As an even better precaution you could replace the outlets in question with GFCI outlets, even without a ground wire attached they will offer some protection.

[jnaas2]

You cant install a grounded receptacle on a two wire system, the bare wire is a equipment ground and a lot of appliances need that to killl the power in case of a shortcircuit. Code does allow a gfi to be installed instead of the 2 prong plug, because a gfi measures the amount of electricity going out verses what comes back and will kill the power in the case of a ground fault and not kill you

[OdieTurbo]

Thanks guys! I'll stop and get a handful of GFCI outlets to replace the couple I need to.