Grounding of electric appliances

[Mr-T]

On September 17, 2017 at 9:13 AM, Jack Peterson said:

All this is OK but I would question how many of you have metal water pipes? Grounding don't work on Plastic All Lolas stuff was grounded to the nearest security Grill. Me, I had the Whole House Grounded when we Built and have a big FO lightning Conductor through the roof 

Jack

Morning All

That the way to go Jack. I did the same with our house. All water pipes are plastic in our house.

[allancomeau]

On 9/15/2017 at 6:54 AM, davewe said:

With our new rental we just bought several appliances. I noticed that both the refrigerator and microwave came with a separate ground wire. The instructions said to connect it for safety purposes but not where to connect it to.

Now our house has both 2 pronged and 3 pronged outlets, but I know in the Philippines just because something is 3 pronged does not mean it is properly grounded. 

I know  nothing to speak of about electricity but don't believe there is any kind of grounding rod in the kitchen. Is there any value to using these grounding wires and where do I connect them to?

 

Grounding is almost non-existent here.  Even if there are 3 prong outlets I doubt the ground has anything attached to it. 

There are testers you can buy (at the hardware) that will check the wiring.

[bastonjock]

These days in the UK we are up to the 18th edition that snowy referred to

Clamping earth wires to metal pipe work is referred to as equipotential earth bonding ,these wires should run between pipes and link up the pipe work 

Earth wires 16 mm in diameter should be run from the fuse board to the water mains were it comes into the building and the gas main 

With regard to plastic water pipes ,the water itself is an excellent conductor so find a metal fitting 

For earth rods it is best to use 4 or 5 and in preferably wet ground ,a 25mm earth wire connected in a star configuration will give you a decent earth , I can't remember the technical bumf on measuring the impedance to ground 

RCB,s or RCBO,s are best for protection ,you also need an expensive instrument to measure the impedance to ground 

Electricity takes the path of least resistance ,make sure that's not you 

Tomorrow I will isolate 11000v so that I can fix a dangerous supply in a medical center , I take electricity seriously and I'm still alive and unburned after a life time working on systems up to and including 33000 volts 

 

[allancomeau]

5 hours ago, bastonjock said:

With regard to plastic water pipes ,the water itself is an excellent conductor so find a metal fitting 

Not sure what you are saying here.............   

If water is an excellent conductor then why don't we have pipes (of water) delivering electricity?  ;)

[Dave Hounddriver]

22 minutes ago, allancomeau said:

If water is an excellent conductor

Well if you don't believe, then how about standing in a puddle of water during a lightening storm and proving your point 

But seriously, the water is not the conductor but the impurities in the water are. That is why salt water is used as an electrolyte.  Here is a high school science experiment to prove it.

[Jack Peterson]

5 hours ago, bastonjock said:

With regard to plastic water pipes ,the water itself is an excellent conductor so find a metal fitting 

Yes it is but the water is on the inside of a Plastic Pipe. The Plastic Pipe I am sure is not a good conductor 

 To me and many I would think, Metal is best for Grounding 

[allancomeau]

12 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

the water is not the conductor but the impurities in the water are.

 

That is true.........the Ionic Impurities make it a conductor

But I would never suggest using water as a ground mechanism

[Jollygoodfellow]

59 minutes ago, allancomeau said:

But I would never suggest using water as a ground mechanism

No one said that. 

[manofthecoldland]

Years ago, my wife here would always unplug the tv if it wasn't on, until I bought her a multi-plug extension cord with a circuit breaker and unit switch that she could ''off'" the power to it. That, she seemed content with since  somewhere back in time she had heard that if you didn't unplug things during storms, you risked losing your valuable and costly appliance. All our apartment rentals and house had/have circuit breakers, of course, but old habits die hard, better safe than sorry, etc. was her way, since many places never had such things until recently, and then only if you could afford them. 

   Her solution to the refrigerator ground wire....... and I'm not making this up.... is to fill an old tin can with "ground", i.e. dirt/soil, and stick the bare  'grounding wire' into it. The can sits beside the frig., both atop a small wooden platform designed to keep the refrig off the floor for cleaning and water avoidance. I could never convince her to get rid of her can of dirt. She seemed to think that it worked and made her safer. Of course it does no such thing, but we never have argued over anything, and I decided to just let it be.  If I thought things needed the extra safety we have in the US, I would run a heavy gauge copper wire to a 1 meter + ground rod driven deep into the ground like I have at my cabin in the  coldland, where it is mandated.   

[expatuk2014]

Aah the Philippines wiring !

Just this Tuesday we were told one of the wifes old friends died from an electric shock from a rice cooker ! A few months back i wired in an extra light in our carport , which is at the front of the family home  i switched of the power from the main breaker box ( or so i thought ) but then double checked the cables with my trusty multimeter, and there was still power !

. The wiring from the meter into the family home looks like a ball of wool with cables taped together with insulating tape. The only decent wiring is to our own home as when we had it built

I insisted on seperate junctions to the lighting circuits 1 for each room and also for each set of power outlets, and i also insisted on a seperate breaker box for both the ground floor and the second floor

And i had a earth lead run from a ground rod to seperate circuits in the kitchen where most of the appliances we use ( coffee maker, George foreman grill,toaster etc are all from the UK still fitted with

3 pin plugs and fuses.