Do I honestly need the ground wire?

The house im may be moving into is old and im not sure if it has a ground...

I was told that it would work but if a short happened to touch the case on for instance... a 1000watt ballast it would set the whole fucking thing on fire.

thoughts?

uhhhhh im no electrician but i wouldnt run a 1000 without a ground. thats pushing it

X2 ^^^^^ no way

It would have to be ancient to have no ground. if it is that old i would either redo the wiring to the growroom or not grow. If you have no ground than yeah even a 150w ballast could light the place up. Do you really want to lay awake at night wondering if you are going to wake up to the smell of a fire?

I second that. Ground wires are easy man.

These things worry me. First do the wall outlets have 2 prongs or three? If 2 than i would really worry. If 3 than they could be grounded but you should test if you are worried. Pick up a circuit tester (only a few bucks).

Insert the circuit tester's red probe into the smaller outlet slot. This is the hot wire that provides the energy.
Insert the black probe into the larger slot in the outlet. This is the neutral slot to complete the circuit.
Look at the indicator light. It will light up if the outlet is grounded. If it does not light up, reverse the red and black probes. If this lights up, then the outlet is grounded but was wired in reverse. If no light comes on in either test, the outlet is not grounded and should not be used.

im gonna +rep everyone in this thread thank you!