Ungrounded Electricity Questions

Discussion in 'Grow Room Design/Setup' started by TheBay, Jul 21, 2012.

  1. Hey GC, I just had a couple questions on ungrounded electricity if anyone can help me out.

    -Just to make sure, ungrounded electricity is basically anything that isnt hooked up with wires?, like If im going to run a extension cord from a shed to an outlet outside the house that will be called ungrounded right?

    -So what are the dangers of ungrounded electricity could someone explain to me?
    -Is it safe at all?

    Thanks GC!
     
  2. if it is coming from your house, it is grounded. the only worry you have is making sure you use a really good extension cord.

    ungrounded is when you electrocute yourself id imagine. because you arent grounded... that is why you get fried.
     
  3. both the neutral (white) and ground are both grounded conductors
     

  4. Actually you are electrocuted because you ARE grounded :)
     
  5. from what i understand when you have a plug with 3 prongs, the bottom one is the ground, so if your plugging into an outlet with 3 prongs its most likely grounded.

    Of course it isnt a gaurentee but its a good bet. Someone feel free to correct me if im wrong. For instance with a extension cord, you'd want the 3 prong one not the 2 prong.
     
  6. Ungrounded electricity is when you don't have an earth or third pin on the plug.
    We have this to earth devices with metal on them so they cannot become live.
    instead of the power going through you it will go through the earth conductor

    Neutral or (black or blue wire) is connected to earth through an MEN (multiple earth Neutral)

    so if the positive wire fell off in a device and tried to make it live it would connect positive to earth to negative and would blow the fuse or most of the current would go through the earth.
     

  7. lol you get electrocuted because you are grounded:) this is why birds can sit on powerlines.
     
  8. Just like to say that it is remarkable that someone can reach adulthood in America and not know WTF a grounded outlet is or what being grounded means or how friggen electricity works!

    God dammit people.

    Come on.

    Is this why we need fucken laws about EVERYTHING? No one can handle their own shit!! Personal responsibility lol.

    I know this is kinda rant-ish but god damn! We use electricity literally every day, and it is one of like 2 things in your house that can actually hurt you, and you don't even know how it works?? Like 5 out of 6 posters on here just clueless on AC physics and home wiring?? FML where are we headed??

    RTFB <----
     
  9. Sorry for the long post.

    Electricity is electrons moving in a conductor. Electrons being negatively charged will move towards something that is positively charged, mostly protons. The largest mass of protons anywhere near is, the earth. So that is why we talk about "grounding" electrical circuits.

    A circuit is a connection from a mass of free electrons and the ground allowing the electrons to flow. When we attach a motor, light, or what ever in the circuit we are making the electrons do work.

    In a house circuit you typically have 220 volts coming in to the service panel on two large cables and a third cable for the ground. The large cables hook up to two bus bars providing two separate 110 V circuits.. The bus bars are zig zagged in the box so that every other breaker down one side is on a separate 110 circuit. This allows for a double breaker that will provide a 220 V circuit.

    The third large cable is attached to a bus bar that has a good sized bare copper wire attached that runs to and is clamped on a rod that is hammered a good distance into the ground. This rod is the main ground of the home circuit. The cable coming in from the power company also provides a ground.

    All 110 V circuits in your house, if it is not an older one, have three wires running to the outlet or device. One is the line or hot wire. This supplies the device with power. All switched should be installed on this wire. If this wire is broken or disconnect power will not flow.

    The second wire is the neutral. The neutral wire is the "return wire" that completes the circuit. This wire is hooked up in the service panel to the bus bar that is connected to the ground. This wire completes the circuit, if it is broken or disconnected power will not flow.

    The third wire is typically a bare copper wire and is use for a ground. This third wire is for safety purposes. It is usually attached to a ground screw on an outlet or device box if metal.

    Typically the ground is not needed for the circuit to do it work, however if a short (a break in the circuit) develops the electrons in the circuit before the short will seek what ever ground they can find. That could be a person! The ground wire provides an alternate route for the electrons to get to the ground that is a much better conductor than your body.

    Now to your shed. The safest way to power a shed would be to have an electrician run a sub panel for the shed off of your service panel. OK, I know that is probably NOT going to happen, so.

    You can run an extension cord to your shed. If you have a good grounded outlet you are running it from it will provide a ground in the shed also. The biggest thing to watch for is the size of your cord.

    All conductors offer "resistance" to the electrons flowing through them. Think of it as friction and you will be close. So, just like with water, the bigger conductor (pipe) that you use the easier the electrons will flow through it. If the wire is not big enough, it will heat up. This is exactly how electric heaters work.

    So, first you need to figure up everything you want to run in your shed and figure how many amps each device will draw. This will be rated in amps. For example a typical 1000W magnetic ballast and light will draw 9.5 amps.

    Wire and extension cords come in different gauges. The smaller the number the bigger the wire. Each gauge of wire is rated to carry a certain number of amps:

    14g - 15 amps
    12g - 20 amps
    10g - 30 amps

    Most newer homes have 12g wire and a total of 20 amps available for each duplex outlet. This is important. Houses have duplex outlets. This means that there are two outlets, hooked to the same circuit. Each place you plug a cord into is an outlet. Each outlet, even if on a 20 amp circuit is only rated for 15 amps. Some homes may only have 15 amps run to each duplex outlet. You can find this out by look at the rating of the breaker that controls that circuit.

    So, running an extension cord from an outlet to a shed only give you 15 amps to play around with. If you need more you could run another extension from an outlet on a different circuit.

    Make sure you run a big enough extension cord. The longer the run the more resistance so to be safe if you have a long distance run a 12g.

    Good luck.
     
  10. To the OP, may I suggest that you really don't have a theoretical question about electricity and grounding but rather have a specific question or two about whether your setup or your plan is safe. In which case, ask the actual question you need an answer to, because general electricity questions are not the subject of this forum.
     

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