Why you should ground EVERYTHING

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Rawls007

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Went on a service call to investigate the cause of a small fire and make repairs since the fire company was unable to do so. The fire had occured outside at the rear of the house. I noticed the burned wood near the eave and also notated the roof flashing had burned and split apart in the same location.

There weren't any wires near the origination point so I scratched my head for a little while, then on a hunch I tested the burned flashing with my volt meter. Sure enough it read 120volts. I traced the flashing around the perimeter of the house to the other side where a flood light was attached, then located the corresponding breaker and opened it. Rechecked the voltage on the flashing and this time it was zero. I'm sure you probably know where this is going now.

Anyway, to make a long story short, whoever installed the flood light didn't connect the ground, and when he screwed it in the stem had pierced the hot and energized the whole thing, including the flashing behing it. And since the ground wasn't hooked up, it never tripped the breaker. It just stayed energized for who knows how long until it finally found a way to arc itself out.
 
This reminds me of a Story I read a while back. A lil girl lost her life as she harmlessly played in her driveway. She touched a metal part of the garage and with the aid of previously wet driveway she lost her life. Very Sad to see this type of stuff happen.

The person who wired an outdoor recepticle DID NOT have the ground hooked up and that led to all of the garage being "Hot"

Ground everything, I make sure I do just that especially after reading that story awhile back.


~FyE~
 
Sort of off topic: Any of you guys in residential ever see all the grounds in a sub-panel exit the tub out of a screw hole or a knockout and they are all twisted together behind the panel? What the heck were these old timers doing?
I usually see this when they used the romex with the downsized ground. Im guessing the 50's and 60's???

~Matt
 
TOOL_5150 said:
Sort of off topic: Any of you guys in residential ever see all the grounds in a sub-panel exit the tub out of a screw hole or a knockout and they are all twisted together behind the panel? What the heck were these old timers doing?
I usually see this when they used the romex with the downsized ground. Im guessing the 50's and 60's???

~Matt
Click to expand...

I have seen all kinds of weird installs with NM that has the ultra thin grounding conductor, alot of the time its just clipped off at both ends, I think alot of the old timers just didnt understand why they needed that "spare ground wire" and didnt know what to do with it...
 
ultramegabob said:
I think alot of the old timers just didnt understand why they needed that "spare ground wire" and didnt know what to do with it...
Click to expand...
I agree. There also were regional differences in those initial years of requiring that all receptacles be of the "grounding type".

I started out before State enforcement in an area of eastern Nebraska that had a little eight mile square area that was inspected by one man. He was working pretty much as a lone ranger. That first summer of my apprenticeship I installed reduced EGC NM. The installation practice for the EGCs stayed in place for a few years after full size arrived. There, I was taught to twist all the EGCs together inside the box for 3 or 5 turns and continue one long one to the device grounding terminal. No pressure connector was used an the twisted bundle of EGCs, and no bonding to the box was done, as the yoke screws were considered good enough to ground the box off the yoke.

When I moved to Minnesota, with a centralized State-wide inspection community, I was abruptly brought up to speed.
 
Why you should ground everything

Why you should ground everything

Another good Post
I have always made fun of four wire on Dryers, Ranges and said someone made this up to make money
On a service call a renter reached into a drawer of a range and somehow the draw hit the outlet and shocked her and burned her arm
Ever since I encourage everyone especially those who rent out units to upgrade there outlets

Grounding is important but what I hate the most is grounding switches

How old do you have to be before you are considered an Old Timer?
Never saw anything that you described about grounds behind panel

One thing us older guys tend to say is grounded outlets and such, hell I grew up with these things and I'm still here

Tamper free outlets, let the kids stick something in them and they will only do it once

I have currently changed my mind about these new safety devices
Can't say you can't teach an old dog new tricks
It's something to look at some of the stupid things we say from time to time

Ground everything
Don't take any chances
Saftey First

Semper Fi Buddy
 
Brady Electric said:
Grounding is important but what I hate the most is grounding switches
Click to expand...
If you use a metal box, you do not need to ground the switches. The company I work for primarily uses MC and metal boxes, so it works out well.

Brady Electric said:
How old do you have to be before you are considered an Old Timer?
Click to expand...

Anyone older then me! :grin:

All joking aside, I use this term with respect, for anyone who has been in the trade for a long time, and someone who has forgotten more then I know. Someone I look up to. :smile:

~Matt
 
Why you should ground everything

Why you should ground everything

I quit using metal boxes a long time ago unless in commercial work or in old work where I need to double or triple gain
Its just bad when you have a 4 gain box in a new house and have all those grounds on switches and put them back in the box, especially working with anything hot
AT the age of 59 and in the trade since 1974 its still hard to look at yourself as a old timer
How the years seems to have flown by since I first joined the Marines in 1967 and was in Nam in 1970 and 1971
Semper Fi Buddy
 
Brady Electric said:
Another good Post
I have always made fun of four wire on Dryers, Ranges and said someone made this up to make money
On a service call a renter reached into a drawer of a range and somehow the draw hit the outlet and shocked her and burned her arm
Ever since I encourage everyone especially those who rent out units to upgrade there outlets

Grounding is important but what I hate the most is grounding switches

How old do you have to be before you are considered an Old Timer?
Never saw anything that you described about grounds behind panel

One thing us older guys tend to say is grounded outlets and such, hell I grew up with these things and I'm still here

Tamper free outlets, let the kids stick something in them and they will only do it once

I have currently changed my mind about these new safety devices
Can't say you can't teach an old dog new tricks
It's something to look at some of the stupid things we say from time to time

Ground everything
Don't take any chances
Saftey First

Semper Fi Buddy
Click to expand...
a master electrician told me that he doesn't ground switches because nowhere in the code does it say that you have to. Any idea if that is true?
 
Why you should ground everything

Why you should ground everything

10/4
Johns got the scoop
It always amazes me what some people think they know
That's why I carry my code book in the truck
I may not remember or know as much as I-wire but I do know how to look up things I have a question about
Don't know if I am just getting smarter but it seems to me that the code book makes it easier to find answers than it used to
My first code book was a 1978
I really liked the small code books
Semper Fi Buddy
 
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