Grounding (also called earthing) refers to the practice of providing an un-energized path back to the main neutral. This is done to allow any electrical faults to flow into that circuit, instead of anyone touching the fault. Use with the [electrical] tag.
Questions tagged [grounding]
927 questions
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Why does this receptacle have the ground tied to the neutral?
I was replacing some outlets in my house with tamper-resistant ones, and came across one where the white and ground were wired together, as seen in this picture. Why? Is that okay or appropriate ever? It was clearly done on purpose.
When the…
Scott Stafford
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Why is my garage grounded ONLY when it rains?
My garage is not connected to my house and it's on a circuit that contains a few outlets inside the house as well. I found out the first time I tried to charge my PHEV that the entire circuit isn't properly grounded. I had an electrician come look…
Andy Barnes
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Is it ok to have mixed grounds and neutrals on bars in a breaker box?
So to continue my line of electrical questioning (and perhaps narrow down my flickering light problem), I took a look through the two panels in this house. There is a 200amp main service in the basement, which then feeds up to a 100amp sub-panel…
MarkD
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How did my ground and neutral become energized by a short in the buried main line?
Long post, because I'm not sure what information is critical. The ultimate question is what, if anything, I need to do to ensure there are no hazardous conditions in my home.
Friday night, the lights flickered for 10 seconds and then the house lost…
Larry
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The main ground on my house sparks when an appliance is turned on
When turning on high amp appliances like an air compressor or dust fan, the attachment of the ground from the meter box to the water main (pic) sparks occasionally for a second or so. A separate ground from the meter box was also installed a few…
Laramie
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Why am I getting shocked touching an outdoor faucet?
In a farm setting, my brother asked me what could cause him to get a shock from an outdoor hose bib at the pump house? He was prepping for freezing weather and disconnecting hoses from hose bibs. There was a ground wire attached (poorly) to the…
George Anderson
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Why don't electrical receptacles have more than one ground?
All modern receptacles have places for additional hot/neutral wires so you can add more outlets in series, but they all have a single screw or hole for the ground wire.
Why don't they have two ground holes?!? I see many receptacles wired where the…
cds333
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Why don't I have ground wiring on any of my outlets?
My house in California was built in 1989 (I believe) And in the last 5 years I've replaced at least 20 outlets myself (successfully), and noticed there were never any ground wires to connect to the new outlet (Decora style). The old outlet are…
Outdated Computer Tech
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Is it OK to create a third prong ground from a cold water pipe, for a 2-wire circuit?
When or is it NEC code compliant to upgrade a 2-wire circuit, by adding a third prong equipment ground from a nearby cold water pipe?
A different case of borrowing a ground from a nearby circuit is covered at: Is it OK to borrow a ground wire from a…
Bryce
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I have a 3-pronged receptacle but no ground wire connected to it. Is this ok?
I removed the plates from outlets to paint walls and noticed that some of my electric boxes have ground wires connected to outlets while others do not have a green wire at all. Is this ok?
I know that neutral wire is connected to ground in the main…
user443854
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I live in an older home without ground wiring. Is it safe to install 3-prong GFCI with only a hot and neutral?
I live in an older home that doesn't have any ground wiring. Is it safe to just install 3-prong GFCI outlets and use devices and appliances that expect a ground wire connection when I just have the GFCI outlet and no actual connection to…
Dan
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What are these orange outlets directly attached to my breaker box?
I haven't noticed these over the years I've owned my home. Only recently I happened to look down and think "huh, that's odd, why are those outlets colored bright orange." I have, over the years, realized that color around electrical components…
William
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Buying a home with 2 prong outlets but the bathroom has 3 prong outets
I'm looking at a home for my family and trying to assess the amount of work needed (no home-inspection is present). I saw that most of the electrical ports have 2 prong outlets and am worried that I might have to add grounding to the entire home…
gran_profaci
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How do I properly ground my subpanel that only has one neutral/ground bar?
I am adding a sub panel in an unattached building. My sub panel has the connection for the 2 hot wires coming from the source panel (a 40 amp double breaker) In addition it has one neutral/ground bar which has a green screw head for the ground and…
javelong
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Where does the ground wire go in a 3-prong dryer cord configuration?
We moved to a new place where the dryer connection is 3-prong instead of 4-prong. The dryer was originally 4-prong, so we bought a 3-prong cord and installed it. It works fine, except I am not entirely sure if I installed the ground wire correctly.…
Confluence
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