Turn the plug around?
My appliances all came with two-connector plugs and a dedicated ground cable, but my apartment has three-plug-sockets. Hereās what I did:
Using one of these - I didnāt find any cheaper ones than the Panasonic ones for almost $300 per pieceā¦
I havenāt checked if the ground plug is actually wired correctly, thoughā¦
Iāve never gotten shocked from my toaster oven, dishwasher, washing machine or dryer though.
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many a house here (even with 3 pin sockets) do not actually have grounds in the house. Like astonishingly common. One would hope high rises more likely, but never assumeā¦! Most places we have actually checked for pins or plates are without. Very dangerous. If worried, get a gfi.
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nobody in Taiwan seems to care about groundingā¦ the fact that 3 conductor cable for 110 doesnāt exist is proof. I guess the code in Taiwan do not require grounding.
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I havenāt checked, but I think it is mandatory. not going to check either, but I would wing it and bet a slab of tofu it is the law. just not common.
Try looking for 3 conductor wires for 110 circuit, it doesnāt exist. If you ask for 110 wires they will give you the 2 conductor stuff. It shows that if grounding is used at all, itās VERY rare. If you want to retrofit a house with proper grounding, then you will have to completely rewire it.
Thatās not true. Itās been mandatory in new buildings for almost 20 years.
Yep. the laws are there. Iwould expect new high rise and.commercial development to mostly follow the laws. but for single residences, dont count on it all the time. best to check, might save your life. Sometimes they also only have wires in some places for inspection but nothing is actually grounded to anything.
There was a green wire hanging from the back. What would you use that for if grounding is not required?
I asked the guy in the whitegoods shop when I came here, and he indicated to me visually that most people just sling the earth wire it over the back, have it dangling on the floor. Pretty stupid really, because laundries sometimes flood.
How are the new buildings (supposed to be) grounded?
The way this threadās going Iād probably just save us all the hassle and stick it up my own arse.
Not true at all!
They are for 220 or at least that is what people will sayā¦ But I mean if you go to a suidian store and ask for 110 wires, they will give you the 2 conductor stuff.
They have 3. but some shops you almost need to argue with to get compliant gearā¦
It is pretty insane. but they deal morons from all spectrums daily, so I figure it is best to go in knowing what exactly you need and dont let them ask questions.
Granted I would trust an authentic Panasonic one more than the Taiwan norm styleā¦which do melt sometimes. burn, rather. But for comparison, every single Bai Huo and hardware store in Taiwan sells these. usually 20~30nt. Rather than think this is a nice fix (like ripping out the third prong of a plug, which is also common as shit) I would take this as a hint at how poorly buildings are wired intaiwan 
Basically, we use themtoo but only for certain things and only when we are there. I wouldnt leave it plugged in when away.
Youāre right - these can be found plenty. They serve a different purpose, though: The Panasonic thing I bought actually exposes the ground plug from the wall socket using a screw. There I can connect the ground cable from my dryer, toaster oven, ā¦
The one you posted doesnāt actually connect to the third plug in the wall - connecting the ground cable to one of those is most definitely useless!
Basically:
The Panasonic one: Your apartment has three connector sockets, but the appliances have two connector plugs and a ground wire.
The orange thing: Your apartment has two-connector plugs, but your appliances have three-connector plugs.
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I think most appliance in Taiwan must be double insulated or somethingā¦ I just rip the third one off because in 90% of the buildings you live in thereās no easy way to ground it.
By the way how do you ground 3 phase motors?
Iām seriousā¦ I get shocked by the lathe and mill tooā¦
Ahh, yes good point. Yours actually does connect to the ground socket. My bad, I missed that in your pic. So it can be useful.
i wouldnt really trust that with any kind of meaningful load though. That is, assuming behind the wall and in the soil there is even a ground it connects to 
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Yeah, thatās definitely a valid point. The building I am living in is supposedly built using steel beams instead of regular reinforced concrete and they even have a diesel generator for emergency power in the basement - Taiwan being Taiwan it wouldnāt surprise me, though, if they then saved the cost for the ground wire to offset all these costsā¦ 