Why Ground Wires Matter – Las Vegas Electrician
You have heard the expression “ground wire” and you know you have them installed in sockets around your dwelling. The response has significant implications for household electric safety, take it from a Las Vegas electrician.
What Can a Ground Wire Do?
As its name suggests, a ground wire is an electrical wire that extends into the floor below your dwelling. Electrical code requirements making floor wiring standard were phased in during the 1960s, so most modern houses have grounded outlets and electrical panels throughout.
The objective of a ground wire is to offer excess electric charges a safe place to go. The solid mass of earth below our feet has a negative electric charge, which means positive electric charges are naturally attracted to it. A ground wire helps those positive charges get into the ground in a secure, direct and controlled manner, where they may be discharged without the possibility of electric shock or fire.
having been Las Vegas Electricians for over 15 years, we can safely say that excess electrical charges are typical in any home. They are why we safeguard our electronic equipment with surge protectors, so that they include surges from things like lightning strikes and transformer malfunctions. But they also often occur many times every day, whenever large appliances begin; if you have ever noticed your lights briefly flickering when your air conditioner kicks on, that is because of minor surge of surplus electricity.
In a properly grounded electrical system, that surplus electricity goes right into the ground. But if your house has electrical outlets that are not grounded, the explosion could go in several of dangerous ways.
This sometimes happens if you touch an ungrounded plug or socket at the wrong moment — the power can travel between the part of your body touching the socket and your feet on the ground, causing burns, nerve damage and even death, if the surge is strong enough.
If the surge of power finds a path through the structural components in your house, it can spark a flame. And there is always the possibility that the power will flow straight into appliances and electronics which are plugged into ungrounded outlets, which may damage them.
There’s a simple way to look at your outlets to find out if they are grounded or not. Grounded outlets have three slots, while ungrounded outlets just have 2.
For those who have a newer house, chances are good that you have a correctly grounded system. In homes constructed in the early 1960s or earlier, there might be a combination of grounded and ungrounded outlets, based upon the electrical upgrades made through the years. Any DIY or substandard electrical work done over the years may also mean there are flaws in your ground cable community.