Thank you for the very thorough troubleshooting sequence but, I have discovered that my outlets may not be properly grounded.
Old house blues....
Borrow an ELT -earth loop tester , the resistance should be less than an ohm .
Using my old Megger LT5 ELT at this moment on my sockets I get a reading of =0.26 ohms .
You do realize in the UK and I hope in the USA a high result doesn't just help to transmit noise but is highly dangerous when it comes to electric shocks ?
Due to my good earth I am not bothered with domestic appliance noise even with a 100Kohm input impedance but I use JLH,s earthing /earth return principles .
Do not connect an "earth " to a gas main do a bit of wiring to the nearest good earth or if you have a garden then a long earthing rod deep in the ground does the trick.
I know personally many USA citizens who have had to run their own earths , while 115V AC might not kill somebody with a good heart not everybody has a good heart and body resistance comes into it.
Using my old Megger LT5 ELT at this moment on my sockets I get a reading of =0.26 ohms .
You do realize in the UK and I hope in the USA a high result doesn't just help to transmit noise but is highly dangerous when it comes to electric shocks ?
Due to my good earth I am not bothered with domestic appliance noise even with a 100Kohm input impedance but I use JLH,s earthing /earth return principles .
Do not connect an "earth " to a gas main do a bit of wiring to the nearest good earth or if you have a garden then a long earthing rod deep in the ground does the trick.
I know personally many USA citizens who have had to run their own earths , while 115V AC might not kill somebody with a good heart not everybody has a good heart and body resistance comes into it.
I have an Insulation resistance tester, which I believe is the same as a Megger.
I picked it up to test 3 phase motors as I am a maintenance man, or should I say I was a maintenance man. I was laid off due to a combination of COVID-19 & our government going down the gutter post elections....
Sorry for the sidetrack....
Yes, not grounding to gas mains.
The way this house is built, with me being on a slab, rest of house on P&B, brick sidewalks, decking and stairs ....running wires will be extremely complicated.
I do know a bit about grounding and bonding as they say in the field, but isn’t having 2 ground rods a bad thing without a separate dedicated circuit?
Appreciate all the information I am receiving,
I picked it up to test 3 phase motors as I am a maintenance man, or should I say I was a maintenance man. I was laid off due to a combination of COVID-19 & our government going down the gutter post elections....
Sorry for the sidetrack....
Yes, not grounding to gas mains.
The way this house is built, with me being on a slab, rest of house on P&B, brick sidewalks, decking and stairs ....running wires will be extremely complicated.
I do know a bit about grounding and bonding as they say in the field, but isn’t having 2 ground rods a bad thing without a separate dedicated circuit?
Appreciate all the information I am receiving,
Old style earthing was a 3 foot deep pit , put a piece of cast iron or thick plate, connect with galvanized wire.
Put a plastic pipe for refreshment.
Cover plate with salt and charcoal, and close up the pit.
Add water, and top up periodically, every six months or so through the pipe, occasionally brine will be needed.
Plate about 12 to 24 inches square, at least 3/4 inches thick.
Chemical earthing the method here is to drill a 4 inch hole like a bore well with casing pipe 10 feet deep, add the special chemical for the bottom 6 feet, and run the wire out.
But that would need a soil drill.
Buried metal is easier, you can buy an old engine block in scrap, it will have tapped holes too, small engine or whatever.
Maybe you know all this already.
Put a plastic pipe for refreshment.
Cover plate with salt and charcoal, and close up the pit.
Add water, and top up periodically, every six months or so through the pipe, occasionally brine will be needed.
Plate about 12 to 24 inches square, at least 3/4 inches thick.
Chemical earthing the method here is to drill a 4 inch hole like a bore well with casing pipe 10 feet deep, add the special chemical for the bottom 6 feet, and run the wire out.
But that would need a soil drill.
Buried metal is easier, you can buy an old engine block in scrap, it will have tapped holes too, small engine or whatever.
Maybe you know all this already.
First of all the name may be the same Megger but an insulation tester and an EARTH LOOP tester are not the same nor do they test in the same way.
An ELT tests positive to neutral /positive to earth and displays a reading ( in my case digital ) of the actual earth resistance in other words 3 tests are automatically done in relation to the positive ( USA HOT wire ) .
In the USA it used to be the case that only 2 connections existed but now there are 3, due to distances many USA homes have a local earth .
In answer to "bad practice " -two earths this is down to the different wiring standards in the USA & UK .
In the UK its whats called "ring main " circuits with spurs and there is more than one ring main that's why I advised a local earth as it would apply to a UK mains wiring situation as the "bad " earth circuit can be cured by providing a local earth which does not effect the other ring mains or spurs .
Earth loop impedance testing demystified | Megger
An ELT tests positive to neutral /positive to earth and displays a reading ( in my case digital ) of the actual earth resistance in other words 3 tests are automatically done in relation to the positive ( USA HOT wire ) .
In the USA it used to be the case that only 2 connections existed but now there are 3, due to distances many USA homes have a local earth .
In answer to "bad practice " -two earths this is down to the different wiring standards in the USA & UK .
In the UK its whats called "ring main " circuits with spurs and there is more than one ring main that's why I advised a local earth as it would apply to a UK mains wiring situation as the "bad " earth circuit can be cured by providing a local earth which does not effect the other ring mains or spurs .
Earth loop impedance testing demystified | Megger
I'm located in the USA and just had our electrical service redone along with the addition of two dedicated circuits. What I found interesting is that the electrician drove in two separate ground rods. I asked him about only having one ground rod and he said you can have more that one. As a matter if fact, he showed me that our system was also grounded through the cold water pipes as well as the two rods. He said this has nothing to do with ground loops. My system seems fine if not quieter as it is now on a dedicated line.
Wired one to the other. No loop.
Why two rods? If he can TEST and Show that one dirt rod has a sufficiently low resistance (<25r) to an ideal earth, fine. That test is (usually) more work than driving a second rod. And in many dirts you do not get 25r on one rod. (I get over 60.) The NEC says you do not have to drive more than two rods, and you do not have to test if you drive two rods. You do also have to bond most underground metallic piping, but it is unwise to count on that (at my last home, both water and gas were changed to plastic); it's not the grounding, but bonding so the pipe does not get stray voltage.
If you do not have super-NEC requirements (such as a radio tower or power substation), or an ufer, then that's what you get: two rods.
Hmmm. I can't see it from here. But the bonding must not be lost when the water meter is removed/replaced (stray current kills metermen). And all INterior metallic piping must be bonded too. This frequently leads to a clamp where an inside pipe nears the fuse box, and a jumper around the meter.
If interior water piping is all plastic except a short stub into the meter, then yes just running to the dirt side of the meter is a logical solution. If it is known there is a good interior piping bond in place, then today's work may only address the exterior piping bonding.
Frankly I have never seen a need to "ground" home hi-fi, even small studios, to DIRT. How do we have OK sound in cars? airplanes? How can sound in sea-boats ever be bad? (Salt-water, best 'ground' around.) The more common problem is not all devices on the SAME "ground", or rather "common". (Sometimes stray current through corroded ground connectors; conduit can be awful after a decade if no actual ground wire is run.)
Here we have to have two grounding points in industrial loads above 50 kW, it is considered extra safety, both are to be connected in parallel, all machines connected to the same main, main connected to both ground points.
Pits or chemical earthing are both acceptable.
Simple test is that a 200 watt incandescent bulb should glow full bright, phase to earth.
The original poster has not replied yet I think as to how his problem was solved.
Pits or chemical earthing are both acceptable.
Simple test is that a 200 watt incandescent bulb should glow full bright, phase to earth.
The original poster has not replied yet I think as to how his problem was solved.
Possibly, a connection with water pipes is not 'grounding' but rather a 'potential equalization system'.
Maybe, but when I asked him about the second ground rod being pounded in, he explained that multiple ground points were the norm. I also asked him if this might cause ground loops and he said no. That was a local phenomenon. As he is also an EE and is familiar with audio gear I believed him.
Question, would it be a problem to install a ground rod for air conditioner only?
The rest of the house is not grounded.
It would only ground the outlet that the air conditioner is plugged into.
There would be no ground wire running to the main panel of home.
Does this jive for safety and protection?
The rest of the house is not grounded.
It would only ground the outlet that the air conditioner is plugged into.
There would be no ground wire running to the main panel of home.
Does this jive for safety and protection?