Ground Wires

[Alwayslearningelec]

I want to be clear on "ground" wires. I'm going to take it slow...lol.
Any "ground" wire in electrical wiring is either? And I know"ground" is not the correct terms.
Is there any case where you would refer to any wire as a "ground" wire?

1. EGC - ran with the phase conductors??
2. GEC - Could be water pipe, building steel, ground etc. Is it ever a conductor?
3. grounded conductor(neutral) - Easy. Neutral wire?

Thanks

 

[augie47]

Take a look at the definitions in Art 100
EGC:Sized by 250.122 Keep in mind equipment grounding conductors are for circuits on the LOAD side of an overcurrent device.
GEC: Sized by 250.66. Most commonly a conductor but there are cases where the steel, water, etc can be considered an GEC.
Grounded conductor... easy? Most commonly, yes, a neutral but there are systems where phase conductors can be grounded.

Despite many efforts to simplify rt 250, it's not an easy Article.

 

[tom baker]

For Article 250
“We have met the enemy and he is us”
Definitions are important, they are listed first in the NEC.
We would be better off if instead of saying ground we said earth.

 

[tom baker]

Correct
I need to pull an 8 AWG equipment grounding conductor
Trade
Let’s pull a ground
It’s hard to stop saying ground
Or as Mike Holt says, what color is it and what does it do?

 

[Alwayslearningelec]

Correct
I need to pull an 8 AWG equipment grounding conductor
Trade
Let’s pull a ground
It’s hard to stop saying ground
Or as Mike Holt says, what color is it and what does it do?

Thank you. So whenever someone is pulling a ground with the circuit conductors it's usually a EGC?

 

[infinity]

Thank you. So whenever someone is pulling a ground with the circuit conductors it's usually a EGC?

Not usually, it's always an EGC.

 

[augie47]

Not usually, it's always an EGC.

I have had folks say "pulling a ground" meaning a neutral since it is groundED. That's why the terminology is important.

 

[Speedskater]

The lower case 'ground' is the most misused and misunderstood word in the electricity & electronics vocabulary.

 

[kwired]

I want to be clear on "ground" wires. I'm going to take it slow...lol.
Any "ground" wire in electrical wiring is either? And I know"ground" is not the correct terms.
Is there any case where you would refer to any wire as a "ground" wire?

1. EGC - ran with the phase conductors??
2. GEC - Could be water pipe, building steel, ground etc. Is it ever a conductor?
3. grounded conductor(neutral) - Easy. Neutral wire?

Thanks

Take a look at the definitions in Art 100

I'm with augie here. start with those definitions.

A neutral wire is usually a "grounded conductor" but there are "grounded conductors" that are not a neutral conductor.

Two common examples:

a two wire source with one of them grounded

corner grounded delta system, the phase conductor that gets grounded is a "grounded conductor"

Grounded conductors are intended to potentially be a current carrying conductor in normal operation, they just happen to be grounded.

Equipment grounding conductors are only intended to carry current during fault conditions and are intended to be low enough impedance they will carry enough current to help facilitate operation of overcurrent protection devices.

Grounding electrode conductors are the conductor(s) that connect one point (usually of a grounded conductor but not always) to the grounding electrode(s) they connect to which those electrodes ultimately give an earth (ground) reference to the system.

 

[mtnelect]

I am not sure ... something ending in "ed" or "ing"

 

[tom baker]

The lower case 'ground' is the most misused and misunderstood word in the electricity & electronics vocabulary.

I may quote you on that

 

[tom baker]