Just mention the words “Grounding & Bonding” and most people’s eyes will glaze over and a chorus of yawns will fill the air. The “new” Washington State, Standards of Practice require Seattle Home Inspectors (all Washington State Home Inspectors) to report: “The existence of a connected service-grounding conductor and service-grounding electrode when same can be determined.” I would hope that most home inspectors would have already been doing this, but having it spelled out specifically in the Standards of Practice is an improvement over most Home Inspection Standards of Practice around the country. It is totally understandable why the whole business of grounding the electrical system would put a teething infant instantly to sleep, because achieving an actual ground can actually be quite complicated, difficult and so many things can be wrong about it. In this series I will attempt to simplify and demystify “Grounding” so that if you are not now comfortable about what an inspector is looking for----you will be. I want to stick to just the very basics here. If I wanted to easily complicate the issue I would throw “Bonding” into the mix. I only mention it now because the two terms are sometimes confused with each other and sometimes even used interchangeably. While they are related, they do two entirely different things. I will save the discussion of “Bonding” for another series perhaps. For now just accept the concept that “Grounding” is something that is done to the whole electrical service to the house, while “Bonding” is what is done to the metallic components within the home---whether “electrical” in nature or not. All Electrical Services to homes have to be properly Grounded. There are three common ways of achieving this grounding requirement. Some homes will have one or two of these methods and it is possible for a home to have all three. In this post, Part I of this series, we will discuss the first method, the “Water Main,” Grounding Electrode Conductor. Each method of grounding is called the GEC---Grounding Electrode Conductor. The very earliest means of achieving grounding for the electrical system was by attaching the electrical service grounding wire to the metal water pipe entering the home. This was a fairly effective way of achieving grounding because the long length of pipe buried deep in the ground could reliably be counted on to stay put and provide the required pathway for the system to clear any ground faults (like when little Joey decides to cut the extension cord with Mommy’s new scissors) that might occur in the electrical system. The problem with any Grounding Electrode Conductor is that different kinds of soils can have more or less “positive” contact with the dirt particles---thus the “effectiveness” of the ability of the GEC to clear ground faults can be “more or less” effective. Because of the importance of achieving really good grounding, other methods of grounding came about. Part II of this series will discuss the “Ground Rod,” Grounding Electrode Conductor. Charles Buell
Seattle Home Inspectors, ASHI Home Inspector, Structural Pest Inspector, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA
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