Posted by John T on September 17, 2007 at 08:17:17 from (66.244.83.147):
ELECTRICAL GROUNDING
Over the years on many many various Tractor Board postings concerning general home n farm AC wiring, I’ve observed a common misunderstanding regarding “grounding” n ground rods etc. which I hope to correct in the interest of safety education and am posting this all over the place.
First of all, it’s the service NEUTRAL that gets bonded to Mother Earth via made grounds like rods driven into the earth or metallic water or gas pipes etc. Out at the electrical pole the Neutrals (if a Y service) on the high voltage primary side are tied to Mother Earth,,,,,,the Neutrals on the low voltage (120/240) secondary side of the transformer also get bonded to Mother Earth,,,,,,,,,and finally at the electrical service entrance meter base or the main service entrance panelboard or even up on the riser, its again the Neutral that gets tied to Mother Earth. That’s to keep the services n the grid etc. at one single common voltage reference which Mother Earth provides, albeit not perfect.
So what about the equipment safety ground, the bare/green GROUNDING conductor that is used on three wire appliances and is wired to the outer metal cases on an electric drill or skill saw etc., isn’t it “grounded” ??? Well, it is, but just because at the main service entrance the Neutral Buss and the Safety Equipment Ground Busses are bonded together, therefore, the safety equipment Ground is also tied to Mother earth but notttttttt for reasons some might think. Since the Neutral conductor is an ordinary current conducting path which happens to be grounded, it’s referred to as a GROUNDED CONDUCTOR while the safety equipment ground (green/bare) is referred to as a GROUNDING CONDUCTOR. The sole purpose of the third wire safety equipment green/bare ground is not so that circuit is tied to Mother Earth n all those ground rods n water pipes, buttttttttt it’s to provide a dedicated low impedance return current path back to the Neutral (Remember at the panel Neutral and Ground busses are bonded together) in case of a fault (like a hot wire gets shorted to the drill case) so the breaker trips de-energizing the circuit and you don’t die hanging onto the drill. I hear people talking about driving more ground rods and making sure that drill case or appliance or stove etc. is bonded to Mother Earth thinking that alone somehow makes it safe, while its NOT any bond to earth that can save their life, it’s the drill case or stove being bonded to Neutral back at the panel that’s critical. The safety equipment green/bare ground wire is tied to the drills case so if there’s short there’s a dedicated current return path back to the panel to trip the breaker. If you had a drill with a metal case and only a two wire circuit serving it with no third equipment grounding conductor and say you drove a ground rod and attached it to the drills case, you think that would save your life if a hot wire got shorted to the drill case NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YOU DIEEEEEEEEEEE. The reason is the earth (depends on moisture n mineral content etc. etc.) is a poor high resistance conductor so there wouldn’t be enough return current back to the panel to trip a 20 amp circuit breaker butttttttttttttt it only take like 50 milliamps through your old ticker to kill you which that short can continue to supply since there’s no low impedance return current path (like the equipment ground) to trip the breaker.
Sooooooooo it’s the Neutrals that get tied to Mother Earth and driving rods into the earth to “ground” that equipment grounding conductor isn’t the thing, it’s the fact that it’s bonded to the Neutral and provides a current path back to the panel in case of a short/fault to trip the breaker n save your life that’s important.
Clear as mud lol John T Nordhoff, retired Electrical Engineer in Indiana
We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]
Today's Featured Article - Box Plow Blues - by Tom Schwarz. One of the first implements most tractor owners obtain is the box plow. For very little money, this piece of equipment promises to plow and flatten any hill or vale on your ranch road or farm. At least that's what I thought! As simple as a box plow appears, it can be rather challenging to make work correctly. In our sandy soils of Florida, traction is king. You can never have wide enough tires or heavy enough weights to get all the traction you want … unless you own a monster tractor. U
... [Read Article]
Latest Ad:
Oliver 550 Diesel runs like a watch three point hitch pto engine gone threw about two hundred hours ago nice clean tractor
[More Ads]
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy
TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.
