We're taught to jump out of the cabin of hooked up equipment (eg crane hitting overhead) with both feet together too, then shuffling away. I think this is only preferred if a fire breaks out and you need to get away. Luckily I'd never encounter this as I'd likely lose balance and place my hands on the ground too, defeating the purpose ;)

@@darkstar_448 lol

Presumably if you jump along the ground (but always keep both feet together) it would work the same as shuffling but allow you to move a bit quicker?

@@Berkeloid0I can see how your thinking and your right as in that jumping would be faster but the reason this is not a suggested method is I suspect that jumping would really increase the chance of falling, and if you were to fall then you would be in a much more dangerous situation.......

​@@Berkeloid0

A baked bean on legs? They have feelings too ;)

You should start a new season on animals as conductors.

You mean "the creature"? :)

Graham Langley wow amazing story thanks for sharing

That may be,but that is a lot more voltage than the max we use.400 volt wont get to far through the ground.Ground at a certan depht has a big resistance.And what about the earthleakswitch??That would be tripped in a instant.So really, i find this a bit obsolete.Of course you gotta have a groundpin,but that whole story about the voltage a meter away today is obsolete.

Various online dictionaries define 'Ground' as the surface of the Earth. If we decided to colonise Mars, should we run a bonding cable from the home planet to avoid this type of confusion?

Yeah you've got to be super careful with earthing milking parlours - even if you don't flat out electrocute them, the cows can get a slight electric tingle through their feet (they don't have hard hooves or anything) they'll find it unpleasant which makes them reluctant to go and get milked.

Thats because the mesh will provide less resistance and a better earth. Covering their own arses.

muzikman2008 You’ve got that wrong. The reason for the mesh is not to improve the earthing: it is because a pme (combined neutral/earth) can float a few volts above true earth potential. Installing a mesh connected to the pme means there can be no potential difference between the basement floor and the pme neutral/earth. This is also the reason why pme earths are not permitted in buildings without equipotential bonding.

@@johnschlesinger2009 and how is that achieved? Through lower resistance by the mesh grounding the floating voltages from the pme?

@@muzikman2008 The mesh is connected to the pme terminal. Therefore the mesh will be at the same potential as the pme: equipotential bonding.

@@mikeZL3XD7029 Yes, we have 3-phase in every building.

£30 for an upside down bucket seems extreme ;-) lol

This is the one i use ,looks fantastic www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lightweight-Earth-Inspection-Pit-Furse-Electrical-Plastic-Inspection-Pit-And-Lid/123901088205?hash=item1cd91491cd:g:hE8AAOSwB2hddSbj

in Australia they dont :) slam them into the ground leaving typically 8 or so inches exposed, typically hard up agaisnt the brickwork tho right below teh board

Getting down to the water table ?

@@mikeZL3XD7029 With a small image of JW waving what could easily be taken as a snooker cue, I've now only got Judd Trump in my mind ;)

When a fault occurs the current wants to take the path of least resistance back to the source (substation) to complete the circuit. In Australia, your earth rod will be directly connected back out to the substation via the low voltage neutral which is a very low resistance path. The substation itself will have an earth grid connected to the LV neutral as well. The rod at the meter board is really only a fail safe that will assist if the neutral connection between the substation and your house is damaged or broken-it helps make sure there is always a path back that can be used instead of just through your body. However in an urban area with many houses, all the house electrodes are interconnected and make a very low resistance path back to the substation. The multiple paths here help reduce the current flow through one particular electrode.

@@darkstar_448 z

It was the same here, years ago. Nobody had heard of Health & Safety regulations.

@@RWBHere we have health and safety regulations. no worries about that.

Testing the ground with dedicated test equipment is by the book but for some electricians it's a case of driving as many as needed till the earth fault loop impedance is low enough that touch voltage is lower than 50v during a fault. But I'm not an expert in it

Threads in general? Dielectric grease wont prevent thread galling and wear. You need to use anti-seize grease for that, or a specialized conductive anti-seize grease if the connection has to pass current directly. Dielectric grease is mainly used to electrically insulate and seal connections. As for the ground rod, once its in there you wont mess with it again until its rotted away and you have to sink a new one from my experience, so I doubt it would be an issue.

@@mysock351C Thanks for the very good reply. I meant conductive threads to prevent wear of the copper layer , but since you've clarified on the rod this now goes to general use in conductive threads. There are some multimeters that have grease on the rotary switch contacts , eg fluke 17b+, is also dieletric grease, since it was the original source of the initial idea

@@mikeZL3XD7029 mainly the ones used on work site offices and and canteens, seems to be a lot of confusion on how to earth them.

£6 from Screwfix.

Planet Conker .... hack saw 🙈

A few tips, check for underground pipes (gas, water), pre drill the hole with a 450mm long 10mm bit. If the thing gets stuck find a bigger hammer!

Depends on the soil conditions, and rods may not be suitable in all locations. However if rods are to be used, they should be the type with threaded ends and connectors so that they can be driven deeper, and a large diameter, as the surface area is the main thing which affects the resistance. The unthreaded small diameter ones should be avoided.

Depends on the size of the cable.

@@jwflame Thanks - maybe you could expand a little on this in part 2?

'other suitable mechanical connectors' will cover screwed joints.

It's pretty subjective, but depending on the soil and rock anything from a few ohms to a few hundred ohms per meter.

You're right. Dry soil will conduct more poorly. You can improve ground conductance by pouring epson salt mixed in water into a hole around the rod. One power company study found that improved the conductivity three fold.

Well, actually you can, there are non threaded, pressure fit brass sleeves for those ones. Although not every warehouse may have them or even know about them...

The rods need to be connected together, but no requirement for that to be a single continuous wire.

Probably done to fill the area around the electrode with a conductive material such as marconite or a conductive concrete.

@@jwflame Interesting, thanks for the reply.

Current flows through the ground back to the transformer.

@@jwflame Thanks John makes sense just passed my 18th wiring regulations, I wanna learn lots and your videos helped me, when I did my AM2 the s plan boiler video was great help great understanding

Using water pipes for the earth hasn't been permitted in the UK since 1966.

@@jwflame Interesting. My house was built in 1998, properly inspected and all. Seems like the UK and Europe have better safety standards than us generally though.

@@Cadwaladr I would doubt a house since 1980 has a significant amount of buried water piping that is metal. On the other any metal piping (water or otherwise) that could become energized by an electrical fault has to be bonded to the safety ground system, the low impedance wiring that will trip the breaker if it becomes live via a fault.

It’s not like the electrical faults occur daily

There was an incident in 2011 where two racehorses were electrocuted in the parade ring at Newbury due to an underground cable fault under it.

Screwfix £11

Get the 5/8 inch ones - the 3/8 are thinner, unthreaded and generally useless.

John Ward thanks 😊

TN-C-S isn't suitable for use in all situations.

@@jwflame Wow the man himself. Thanks for the reply. When wouldn't it be suitable? I'm still learning, not qualified just yet.

Situations such as swimming pools, hot tubs, caravan sites, and some other outside installations like electric vehicle chargers. May not be desirable in others such as remote buildings which have metal framing, or metal water pipes.

If you are inside, everything connected to the electrical installation should be at the same voltage, which is why protective bonding is installed. If standing on the ground outside there will be a substantial voltage difference between the electrode and everything else.

It would work, although it's very likely to corrode away to nothing in a short time.

About right - just google "earth inspection pit"

@@mra813 or search 'square plastic buckets' on ebay. I know, it wont be up to some BS standard. LOL.

Yes, but it's likely to corrode fairly quickly, so won't last long.

Where corrosion from stray current is potentially present (such as installation near an electrified railway), they will still use them. Does cost a lot more though.

@@darkstar_448 yeah should imagine stray current and moist soil would remove the plating then make short work of eating a steel bar lol I would imagine it would be even worse on DC (electrolysis oxidation wise)

No, it's probably beneficial if there is one (or some).

@@jwflame but what happens, say, if the incoming neutral supply, (overhead in my case) should somehow be cut. Wouldn't this mean that the return would go through the earth wire to ground?

Read the regs, his definition is spot on.

@@daverhodes382 oh, that's reassuring! Can you help me with a reference?

@@daverhodes382 IEEE std 80 defines it as, "The difference in surface potential experienced by a person bridging a distance of 1 m with the feet without contacting any grounded object." Do you have an alternative reference for "the regs"?

@@obd6HsN I agree with you here too, but similar concept to what was explained. It's generally step and touch potential that is assessed which is based on the current flow between two feet (step potential) or hand and foot (touch potential). The reason for these two is that they are most likely scenarios for a human to become part of a faulted circuit. I think it's in IEC 60479 where the resistance of a human body is defined based on the way they are hooked up which is then factored into the equivalent faulted circuit to determine current through them and hence chance of fibrillation. The assessment for touch potential is generally more strict as current flow through hand and foot has a much higher chance of flowing directly through the heart.

This is what I do - the SDS drill is of course on the "hammer only" setting.

Bosch do an adapter, £17 well spent!

This video doesn't mention RCDs - is your question about another one?

The RCD would trip, that’s why it’s essential that they are installed on TT systems as the mechanical MCB would not have enough fault current to trip, whereas the RCD can have a maximum of 1667 ohms to trip under earth fault conditions

Really the purpose of a lightning rod is to drain the building electric field above and prevent a strike, so they're usually pretty specialized. You don't want to actually attract the lightning, but help prevent it. The sharp point on a lightning rod initiates corona discharge, and theoretically prevents a strike by lowering the electric field in the sky above, so you do need to tie into a robust earth ground to ensure the charge can safely drain away. If the rod does get hit, its kind of iffy as to whether the lighting rod and earth grounding will actually provide protection. The local church had its steeple hit by lightning and even with something like 000 AWG copper braiding to ground the rod it still blew the steeple to smithereens (made one helluva bang, too). Right afterwards all I could see was just fiberglass, wood, and bits of copper wire everywhere. Same thing with my old mans office. Nuked the lighting rod and all the ground wiring, and took out a bunch of computers and the clock tower. Theres so much voltage and current its difficult to actually conduct it away.

@@kirkhamandy Sharp points do allow charge to be dissipated. This can be demonstrated in the lab, and airplanes use this quite effectively to drain charge away from the airframe. Have a look next time you fly and you will see lots of sharp needle-shaped electrodes coming off the trailing edge of the winglets and wings of most planes. The actual mechanism I described is not a myth. Its efficacity is hard to demonstrate, however, since its hard to say how changing the local e-field would impact the path of a stepped leader as its on its way down. Some have made specialized installations that have shown that they can drain sizable amounts of current during a storm with an array of sharp electrodes.

@@kirkhamandy Now as for their effectiveness, I can say from experience from seeing strikes and the aftermath on various buildings that unless its a skyscraper with a metal girder construction they are not that effective. The lightning simply blows apart the ground strapping, even if its 3/O or 4/O gauge. A single wire just doesn't seem to cut it. Even seen it blow apart a copper water main at my office. Youd think a big copper pipe would handle it, but a bolt cruising past my window proves otherwise. Blew a giant hole in it. The installations that do seem to work are ones for towers with multiple leads to conduct the strike away. Obviously having one is better than nothing, but its not a guaranteed solution. Maybe the NEC, NFPA, and local regulations today are better, but back then it did not seem adequate to contain a strike.

@@kirkhamandy The spikes on the airframe are also to dissipate static that inevitably builds up from flight since the plane is moving through very dry air combined with particles of ice, dust, etc. Most of the lightning protection is in the copper around the wire looms and mesh in the composite wings as you probably know, but that's an aside. I have seen ones that work. These had multiple guy wires (i.e. towers) that provide a more effective means to conduct the strike without incident, but the strikes that I did see or the aftermath of in buildings Ive worked in did damage to the lighting rod installation and burned out some electronics and so forth. The church was the most extreme, with the ground strapping blown to pieces, and what was left was quite blued, indicating it got quite hot. This was also during a period of exceptional activity so there were more strikes to see, so it could be down to odds. Although oddly enough the AM tower behind me outside my window that's owned by CBS never gets struck (or at least very rarely). I've tried during storms to capture or at least witness it, but whatever they have, the lightning just doesn't seem to hit it, which is surprising given its the tallest thing in town and its made entirely of steel. But that aside the one take home is if I ever have a need to install one, I would go considerably over code to make sure it works as intended and can convey a strike if it does get hit.

@@kirkhamandy Also I think there is some merit to the possibility that dissipating the fields above might have a beneficial effect, and in documentation they freely admit that sharp points are not as effective at capturing a lightning strike (i.e. lower average number of strikes). Also seeing as how the tower behind me seemingly goes without being struck (I've seen the field around it be hit, but not the tower). Since local charge is being dissipated, there is some potential for an effect, but I have not seen any real good studies showing it does or doesn't work. Only that opinions change. My suspicion is that it probably does locally have an effect on the path of the streamer/stepped leader, but could potentially cause the lightning stroke to bypass the rod installation and hit the structure below. Obviously the lightning propagates by the initial breakdown of the air, which is driven by the field gradients as well as the charged particles that are accelerated once the air ionizes. Impacting the fields around a structure would (or at least should) have an impact on how and where the lightning ultimately ends up striking. I can say that lightning LOVES utility poles and wires, since I've seen multiple strikes, even outside of my grandparents house that had lightning rods. Skipped the rod, and chose the service entrance below. So the properties of structures do impact how it behaves locally. I think static dissipative arrays and the like do have an effect, but so far all there really is is anecdotal evidence of "we installed it on a high risk structure, but it still got struck afterwards" sort of thing. It would be nice to know that if it doesn't work despite being able to move large amounts of charge locally, why it doesn't work. E.g. the effect is too local to impact the final ionization path before the stroke sort of thing.

Not for a single dwelling. Communal systems that supply multiple dwellings usually do.

@@jwflame The CAI recommends bonding aerial distribution system if the number of items connected to it is seven or above, due to the cumulative permitted leakage currents, AKA touch currents, of double insulated devices likely to be connected to it. Here's a link to an article on this: www.aerialsandtv.com/earthbonding.pdf

@@Graham_Langley Thanks for that. I live in a block of flats with a distributed aerial system and have had a bit of a zing off the aerial socket in the past. Now I know why... Someone's in for a Bo**ocking!

Graham Langley This could explain a lot

@@CoolJosh3k I've got a TV distribution system here using an 8-way Global Loftbox, which has a chunky earthing post on it. ATM it's bonded to the adjacent mains socket which is probably good enough as the wiring is in good order, but it's on the list to run a bond down to the main earth block before I close up access to the wiring run.

Me too!..i thought they were cheap for the CSA of copper..pmsl :-D

I thought of weighing them in 😂😂😂

@@zjzozn me too...pmsl :-)

How’s your brother Donald ? 😀

Trump...... 😂

Hi Kevin I the UK we have a three wire system no that dissimilar to your arrangement in the US apart from the fact that we normally have larger but fewer substations and the neutral is bonded to a very good earth mesh / rod at that point. We also use the cable armour or metallic sheath (on older cables) bonded to the earth and we also have what we call an equipotential bond that must be connected to any other services such as gas or water. If the building has metal sidings or is steel framed that is also bonded. The primary difference between a UK and US install (aside from the split 110v lines with a centre tapped neutral) is that in a UK installation the neutral is treated as if it were a live or (hot) conductor. Unlike in the US the neutral and earth conductor are not bonded together at the consumer unit. They are separate until they reach the substation. We do have several kinds of earthing arrangements in the UK. The only time an earth rod would be live is when it is conducting fault current away, this would only be for a very short period as all installations that meet code will have the circuits protected by an RCD device (GFCI in the US) and fault current flowing to earth would also be interrupted by the devices fuse if it was a faulty appliance, the circuits breaker or fuse and in the worst case scenario the (final / company / DNO) fuse that is before the meter. I may be biased but I personally think we have the best electrical distribution and wiring system in the world.... :) I recommend you watch the series that John made regarding earth operation as it will give you far more information on earthing types ect. I hope that is of some help to you.

Stuartbe Thanks for your comment! In US neutral and earth are bonded at the consumer unit(panelboard) same as there. I do not believe that your electrical systems are better or worse than here. As long as they are safe, I'm usually happy. I do consider your "IEC" standards as inferior to NEMA standards. Another thing, the mesh and rod used for earthing have nothing to do with 240 volt line conductor to earth(equipment ground) faults. These faults go through the bond to neutral at Consumer Unit and out to the transformer then come back and trip the RCD. Respectfully, Kevin

@@KevinCoop1 Thanks Kevin I think we got some (wires crossed) Excuse the pun. I meant to say that the earth and neutral are not bonded at the consumer unit. With a standard earthing system the neutral has nothing to do with the earth until the bonding point at the substation. It is at that substation that a very low impedance ground is installed. Only very old installations have a seperate earth rod, not only are they rare but they are subject to very strict testing. The neutral only caries fault current (with the live) in a live to neutral fault event. The earth will only ever carry fault current if an appliance fails or a live wire makes contact with an earthed back box, cable damage is done or a device is badly wired ect. Rather than having an 11KV to single split wound transformers one large oil cooled transformer is normally used that has 3 separate phases 120 degrees apart. It was the case before the lovely EU (NOT) stuck there nose in that we used the phase colours Red, Yellow and Blue. When wiring a street the idea was that the Red phase and a neutral fed the first home. The next home would be on yellow and the third blue. Each supply is a 2 conductor cable and sometimes earth on its own conductor (or outside sheath) . So 2 conductors, phase and neutral fed each house. The idea was to balance the phases over a street. It is very rare for a domestic premises to have more than a single phase feed. You stated in your first post the following "Connecting an electrical system to a ground rod in your country is connecting 240 volts to the earth ALL of the time, not just in fault situation." and this is not how it is done. If I am not mistaken (unless it has changed) your earth and neutral conductors are connected together at the distribution board. On a UK distribution or consumer unit as we call them there are normally two separate neutral bars to serve the two sets of breakers that each have an RCD. The earth conductor bar has no contact with neutral at all until the feed reaches the substation. The reason I believe the UK system is better is that all circuits no matter what they feed are protected by a group RCD or GFCI. From what I have seen it appears that only outside plugs and garage sockets have GFCI outputs. The UK system has global RCD / GFCI protection. We also have safety covers that stop anything being pushed into the live or neutral, It is impossible to keep your fingers around the plug and make contact with the pins. The earth is also the first one to make a connection so there is very little chance of a chassis becoming live if there is a wiring fault. With regards to NEMA and IEC I don't think the US military agree. I am ex Royal Navy submariner and I have worked on some engineering tasks in collaboration with some of the US navy engineers and the American electrical engineers designed the electrical systems using our standards. I do however happily admit that the NEMA standard external electrical external sockets are far better than the UK appropriately rated IP sockets. It may well be unfounded but I just cannot bring myself to trust the US screw on wire nuts. Something about them makes me feel uncomfortable. I hope we have sorted that out and please do not launch any ICBM's in my direction...... Don't forget we gave you all those trident's ;-)

Stuartbe Thank you so much. Speaking from this side of the pond, your electrical system, short hot to neutral will trip the circuit breaker. Short hot to ground will trip the GFCI because earth will cause enough current to trip the GFCI. We on the other hand have high fault values through equipment grounds to trip the breaker. It now makes sense. Awesome! Now an example. NEMATODE contractors are rated 100,000 operations. IEC contractors are rated 10,000 operations. In a dwelling, in the new codes, everything is GFCI, orAFCI or both now. Also receptacles are tamper proof as well. Most electrical videos on KZfaq are by people wanting to make money and not knowledgeable. Respectfully, Kevin

Stuartbe Also, I recently learned why we have 120 volt systems in US. Tesla wanted 240 volts as standard, but Thomas Edison who invented and sold massive amounts of incandescent lights that run on 120 volts was powerful enough to get his way. Edison lost the AC vs DC battle.

Lol ground rod driver attachment...an apprentice in American

Any clamp coming off from weed whacker wasn't right in the first place but I hear you on the not driven or installed correctly. Hacks everywhere

@@Bereft777 Here in the US we have a tool that slides on the end of the ground rod and has an SDS plus end so you can drive it in with a hammer drill. I do commercial and we always have ufer grounds. The only ground rods driven today are for trailers and for remodel work on older houses and out buildings. Very few used in new construction now.

@@Bereft777 The clamps we have here in the US are garbage. Even the expensive bronze ones are very chinsy compared to that threaded one. I wish we used those here.

Great to know the differences between how things are done in other countries thanks for sharing

Creamy Pasta If it was a very heavy current fault maybe but neutral is the same as earth in the uk and in most homes with old wiring and just fuses you could wire plugs with neutral and earth swopped and they would work happily till you either had the house rewired or moved rcbo,s look at whats coming in on live and coming back on negative any imbalance eg earth leakage triggers them but earth should be able to sink all the voltage as neutral does in most houses they are bonded to the incoming feed!

Risk of shock would be much lower, but not entirely eliminated.

Are you talking about tension wires. Typically coming down at an angle from the pole into a strong foundation nearby. Often used at the last pole in a route, or where a route changes direction.

Only true if the mass of earth between the rod and the transformer had an impedance of zero ohms - which it never does.

What an amazing crossover episode that would be!