grounding versus bonding

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charlie b

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Lockport, IL
Occupation
Retired Electrical Engineer
I fear that your question makes about as much sense as this, ?Which is heavier, water or blue??

?Grounding? and ?Bonding? are different things, and both have their contribution to safety. May I ask what you are trying to figure out?
 

haskindm

Senior Member
Location
Maryland
They are two entirely different things that have little or no relation to one another. Both are required in most electrical installations. Grounding is the connection of the electrical system to the earth. Bonding is providing a low-resistance path back to the source to clear a ground fault. It is not an either/or so one is not "safer" than the other. Both are usually required.
 

charlie b

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Lockport, IL
Occupation
Retired Electrical Engineer
Perhaps my earlier response was not entirely open-minded. My apologies.

Please consider the following question, and tell me if this was what you were trying to ask: ?Which is more likely to present an immediate risk to life and health, failure to properly ground an electrical distribution system, or failure to properly bond the system??

My answer to that question would be that failure to bond is more likely to result in an injury (or worse). The purpose of bonding is to ensure that if a fault were to occur (e.g., a hot wire came into contact with external metal parts), there would be a low-resistance path available to carry that fault current back to the source. This would result in a very high current being present, and would cause the overcurrent device to trip. Thus, there would be a low risk that a person touching the object would be injured by electric shock.
 

resistance

Senior Member
Location
WA
>>>>>Perhaps my earlier response was not entirely open-minded. My apologies.<<<<<

4 years ago I ask something about resistance (this is why I carry the name), and was told to get lost. I believe your response to this question was far beter than the response I got! ;)
 

eric stromberg

Senior Member
Location
Texas
resistance said:
>>>>>Perhaps my earlier response was not entirely open-minded. My apologies.<<<<<

4 years ago I ask something about resistance (this is why I carry the name), and was told to get lost. I believe your response to this question was far beter than the response I got! ;)


Maybe if you would "React" a little more, you could change your name to Impedance. :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: Engineer humor :grin: :grin:
 

peter d

Senior Member
Location
New England
eric stromberg said:
Maybe if you would "React" a little more, you could change your name to Impedance. :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: Engineer humor :grin: :grin:

I'm not an engineer but I thought that was pretty funny. :)
 

resistance

Senior Member
Location
WA
I'm not an engineer but I thought that was pretty funny.



You don't have to be an engineer to find this funny! It was a good one!:)

My responds: Please don't resist me!!
 

stickboy1375

Senior Member
Location
Litchfield, CT
eric stromberg said:
It was more along the lines of "Nerd-Alert" :grin:



You might be a nerd if you were a binary watch... :grin:

ledbinarywatch.jpg
 

resistance

Senior Member
Location
WA
Where can i get one of those watches.:grin:

I just figured out how to get the extras on top of my message page, so the watch will be a front!! :wink:

Now that I have the extra's, "watch" me use them:

The Man in the Hat!
 

eric stromberg

Senior Member
Location
Texas
stickboy1375 said:
You might be a nerd if you were a binary watch... :grin:

I'm going to put one on my shopping list. But how's this for Nerd-dom: All of my shirts have pockets, so i can carry my pens. I have been using the same pen for over 18 years now. I think there is medication for people like me... :grin:
 
b. mitchell said:
Which is safer grounding or bonding?

First off, welcome to the forum. We all forget our manners here sometimes.


Your question brings to light an issue that goes deep and far in our great industry...the confusion about GROUNDING & BONDING


CODE
First start at 250.4
For grounding (connection to earth)
250.4(1( & (2)

Then to 250.4(3)
This is for bonding


Notice that (1) & (2) are connections to earth...
&
(3) is connected to a path back to the source (most likely a utility Transformer).



Go to this web page for some reading on the subject, there are different articles you can read which may help:

http://ecmweb.com/grounding


BTW:
Don't worry about the comments made before. We need some fresh ideas and posters here...so come back with more questions and ideas.
 

macmikeman

Senior Member
I met an old timer once who swore that "electricity's job is to get to ground." I took issue with that statement and tried to enlighten the fellow, but then all I got was a bit of a tirade about all his many years experience, and credentials. So I had him step outside the building for a quick little demonstration. We went over to an exterior outlet, gfi protected, and I handed him my wiggie with a request. I asked him to plug in one lead into the hot side of the outlet, and stick the other probe into the dirt on the ground below, and then tell me if he felt any current flowing. Of course he could not feel any vibration or see any current flow with a solonoid tester at 120 volts, and the gfi did not trip, but I asked him "so is the electricity trying to get to ground or not?" I got ten bucks off of him and made him a convert cause then he listened to me tell him about how current needs a complete circuit back to the source of low enough impedence to allow for it to flow.
 

bob

Senior Member
Location
Alabama
resistance said:
Where can i get one of those watches.:grin:

I just figured out how to get the extras on top of my message page, so the watch will be a front!! :wink:

Now that I have the extra's, "watch" me use them:

The Man in the Hat!
Google "binary watch". They are every where.
 

augie47

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Tennessee
Occupation
State Electrical Inspector (Retired)
resistance said:
>>>>>Perhaps my earlier response was not entirely open-minded. My apologies.<<<<<

4 years ago I ask something about resistance (this is why I carry the name), and was told to get lost. I believe your response to this question was far beter than the response I got! ;)

and you didn't listen then either :D (NOTE: JOKE )
 

STinSC

Member
stickboy1375 said:
You might be a nerd if you were a binary watch... :grin:

ledbinarywatch.jpg
That's good stuff. An engineer friend advises that if you appreciate said nerd-humor and didn't catch "Chuck" on Monday night, you need to see it. He goes on to recommend that you record it, because it will likely be lost on the general public and disappear soon. So fire up the Betamax...
 
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