What is a Ground Fault, and How Does Grounding Prevent It?
Grounding is the process of providing an electrical power stream with a return path that reaches the earth. It is one of the most basic safety features in an electrical system, but what happens when something interrupts that return path? The result is a ground fault, a condition that can trigger electrical shocks, start fires, injure people, and damage appliances and equipment. Preventing this scenario significantly enhances the safety of an electrical system.
What Is a Ground Fault
When we think of electricity in our homes, we tend to think of the classic circuit. If everything is working well, the electricity flows from your home’s panel through a hot wire into a device. The used energy returns through a neutral wire to your panel. By completing the circuit, the system allows the electricity to flow, effectively providing the ability to power devices on. Terminating this flow, typically with a button or a switch, also powers devices off by preventing a complete circuit.
A ground fault happens when something interrupts this flow when the circuit is on. Rather than returning to the neutral wire, the electricity either flows into a ground wire if one is present or into whatever is causing the fault.
Common causes of ground faults include:
- Damaged or exposed wires
- Internal device damage
- Water
How Does Grounding Prevent Ground Faults?
Electrical grounding provides a safe path for excess current to reach the ground in scenarios where the neutral wire is either out of the circuit due to a fault or overwhelmed. Optimally, an overload should also cause the circuit breaker on the electrical panel to trip. This causes the circuit to shut down.
Grounding reduces the overall risk of an electric shock. If the electricity has no safe path to the ground, it will find one. Depending on the situation, electricity might accomplish this by jumping through other wires, equipment, or even people. By grounding a system in the event of an overload, you minimize the odds that either a person or a device will suffer a shock. It also minimizes the odds that an overload will melt wires and potentially trigger a fire.
How Grounding Systems Are Installed
The key component in a typical grounding system is a grounding electrode. In most parts of the country, a grounding rod serves this role. However, grounding plates are more often used in areas with poor soil conductivity to maximize contact and ensure better electrical dissipation. There are other alternative types of electrical grounding that effectively use a building’s foundation or plumbing system in this role.
Grounding wire runs from every connected outlet or system in a building to the grounding electrode. This ensures that any device with a grounded plug, typically the three-prong variety that you see everywhere, can discharge extra power through the wire. Other systems, such as large appliances like HVACs, usually connect directly to a ground wire without using a plug.
Bonding is a way to enhance the benefits of grounding. Bonding connects neutral and ground buses at the electrical panel. The purpose is to connect metal components throughout a house to the ground.
Commonly bonded household systems include:
- Metal plumbing
- Electrical conduits
- Large appliance frames
- Gas pipes
- Structural steel, especially support beams
Bonding improves the odds that if electricity jumps to one of those metal features that it’ll still find a safe path to the earth.
Ground-fault circuit interrupters add a unique layer of protection. A GFCI detects irregularities in the electricity flow even when a circuit isn’t overloaded. GFCIs are critical for preventing lower-grade shocks, particularly ones that may occur when electricity comes into contact with water. When the GFCI detects a fluctuation, it shuts down the part of the circuit that connects with the associated outlet in a split second. This reduces the risk that an event that might not throw a breaker could shock someone, such as a shock that might occur while using a hair dryer near a wet sink in a bathroom.
How to Ensure Your Grounding System is Effective
Ensuring that a home’s grounding system is effective is critical for protecting both people and property. Foremost, you want to schedule a regular inspection. In a residential setting, an annual electrical system inspection is a good idea. Checking the quality of the connection to the ground is part of that process. You should also schedule an inspection before any electrical work, such as adding wiring for a remodel.
Grounding conditions can and do change in most environments. For example, a series of peculiarly dry summers can reduce the grounding potential of the soil underneath your house. Likewise, grounding rods and ground wires can also suffer corrosion.
You also want to ensure proper bonding. Every piece of metal in your house has the potential to attract electricity that’s looking for a ground path. Consequently, it is a good idea to properly bond structural metal and any systems with metal components. Also, checking the bonding should be part of the inspection process.
Homeowners should look at potential upgrades, too. If your house doesn’t have grounding, you should immediately talk with one of our electricians about adding it. Likewise, modern building codes require GFCIs within six feet of water sources in the home and at all outdoor outlets.
Finally, pay attention to all electrical issues. If shocks are happening or breakers are tripping, that is a sign that something could be wrong with the electrical grounding. Even if the grounding is fine, other electrical systems are likely experiencing trouble.
Get Help from The Experts at Melbourne Mister Sparky
Homeowners in Melbourne, FL, tend to trust their electrical projects to Mister Spark. Whether you are planning to install a grounding system or need to update an existing setup, our electricians perform high-quality work quickly. Don’t put up with any malarkey, call Mister Sparky. Learn the different types of electrical grounding system that is best for you home.