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Grounding is a safety measure that connects electrical outlets to the earth to prevent injury from malfunctioning equipment. Homes are usually grounded, but if not, individual grounding can be done with metal pipes or GFCI outlets. Testing outlets periodically is important for safety.
A ground connection is a connection between an electrical outlet and earth. Grounding is done to provide an exit path for electrons so that in the event of a malfunction, the electrons go to the earth, rather than to people or equipment in contact with malfunctioning electrical equipment. This is a basic safety measure designed to reduce the risk of injury from an electrical system. When working with an electrical system, ground should be the first thing connected and the last thing disconnected, whether the system has power or not.
There are several ways to make an earth connection. In most modern homes, the entire electrical system is grounded and you just need to confirm that an outlet is in contact with the ground system. If an individual outlet is not grounded, it can be rewired to fix this problem. It’s easy to determine if the system is grounded, as there should be a copper stake somewhere around the house, often near the electrical box, driven into the ground and connected to a green wire.
If the entire system is not grounded, an individual ground can be set up by connecting the ground wire on the receptacle to a piece of metal that contacts ground. For example, some people use abandoned metal pipes or cold water pipes for this purpose. In this case, it is important to confirm that metal is securely grounded and to make sure people are aware that metal is used as an electrical ground. This method may not even comply with building codes in all regions.
Another technique for a system that is not grounded is to install ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) outlets as a safety measure. The outlet should be installed by an electrician or someone skilled in electrical work to confirm that the globe is done correctly. Some types of wiring and outlets are not designed to connect to a ground outlet. These require some special installation techniques to make sure they are secure. I
The purpose of a ground connection is to make a system safer. For this reason, it is important to periodically test outlets to confirm that they are still properly grounded. Test devices for this purpose are readily available in places like hardware stores, and some appliances actually turn on when there’s a ground problem at the outlet they’re plugged into, to alert people of a problem.
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