Do not preform any electrical work unless you are comfortable as to what you are doing. Do not in any case ground the 3rd prong of an electrical cord to a ground rod that is not bonded to your electrical service. You could cause an electrical potential difference between ground thru your equipment or thru YOU. Remember, an earth ground has resistance. An electrical fault (short to chassis or ground) needs a low resistance path back to its source, a metal conductor, the earth can be a high resistance path. Low resistance will cause the protective device ( Breaker or fuse) to open. Robert KD5YVQ
From: BVARC <bvarc-boun...@bvarc.org> On Behalf Of Joseph Benoit via BVARC Sent: Sunday, May 22, 2022 8:59 AM To: BRAZOS VALLEY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB <bvarc@bvarc.org> Cc: Joseph Benoit <wa3...@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [BVARC] Ground rod Mike. Not a direct answer to your ground rod issue BUT upon inspection, you will find the wire feeding the outlet boxes probably does contain a ground wire, just that they didn't have three-prong outlets or continue grounds properly Not sure you want to tackle this BUT it is easy just time-consuming. After you've done a couple, maybe 15 minutes each. Experiment with one outlet to see if you are up to it. Look in your breaker panel and you will see a bunch of ground wires connected to the ground buss so obviously they go SOMEWHERE (just not terminated at the outlets and switches). Time to replace those old outlets and switches anyway. Don't buy the cheapest outlets, stick to made in USA; Proven to be better connections inside. You can fix the issue with the no-grounded outlets throughout the house and make things much safer. Buy an outlet tester (a few bucks; three LED's) if you don't have one. Get about 10 feet (jic) #14 solid copper wire green or whatever color.; stripping entirely bare if not green. Have a small assortment of appropriate wire nuts and electrical tape. Amazing how many three pronged outlets don't have any wire to ground screw although the bare ground wire is in there (sometimes just balled-up. Good time to identify what breaker does what and to make sure that breaker is OFF before you remove the outlet or light switch.. By getting to each and every outlet and switch and make sure the ground wires that are there are all connected to each other (may be multiple cables in same box) connect them all together adding a pig tail if it was cut too short. Add a short pigtail to the new 3-prong grounded receptacle. Also look at any junction boxes hiding in the attic. Have to be patient since, in an older house like ours, one room may feed another room and the problem won't resolve until all the grounds are tied together. One day project does the whole house. Good idea to take a wrap of tape around the receptacle or switch for safety (for safety and to keep that ground wire from touching where it shouldn't. On Fri, May 20, 2022 at 8:19 PM Mike Knedr via BVARC <bvarc@bvarc.org <mailto:bvarc@bvarc.org> > wrote: The house was built in the 60's. So there is no ground to the receptacles. I was planning on building an extension cord with a gfci and running the ground to the rod. I was thinking about flat braid from a ground buss bar to the rod for the radio, tuner, and power supply. Any thoughts? Mike KI5UBL 73 On Fri, May 20, 2022, 7:57 PM Michael Giannaccio via BVARC <bvarc@bvarc.org <mailto:bvarc@bvarc.org> > wrote: Hi Mike, When I put mine in I left about 8-12” out of the ground. Plenty of room for multiple clamps and coax grounding blocks. If you’re not already aware make sure you bond your station ground with your home’s electrical ground. I have some wire that you’re welcome to for bonding if your run isn’t too long. Let me know! 73, Mike Giannaccio W5REZ > On May 20, 2022, at 6:53 PM, Mike Knedr via BVARC <bvarc@bvarc.org > <mailto:bvarc@bvarc.org> > wrote: > > > I'm am installing an eight foot ground rod for my new shack. > My question is how much leave above ground to attach the grounds. > ________________________________________________ > Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club > > BVARC mailing list > BVARC@bvarc.org <mailto:BVARC@bvarc.org> > http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org > Publicly available archives are available here: > https://www.mail-archive.com/bvarc@bvarc.org/ ________________________________________________ Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club BVARC mailing list BVARC@bvarc.org <mailto:BVARC@bvarc.org> http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org Publicly available archives are available here: https://www.mail-archive.com/bvarc@bvarc.org/ ________________________________________________ Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club BVARC mailing list BVARC@bvarc.org <mailto:BVARC@bvarc.org> http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org Publicly available archives are available here: https://www.mail-archive.com/bvarc@bvarc.org/
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