Re: Ground wire?

Posted by John T on July 11, 2016 at 06:39:44 from (216.249.81.101):

In Reply to: Ground wire? posted by Geo-TH,In on July 11, 2016 at 04:45:59:

Good neighbor George, thanks for posting the pic and great question. I'm a poor teacher because I've tried for yearssssssssssssssssss to explain this to the non electricians (including Billy Bob and Bubba) but I've failed lol. However, its impossible to explain in a paragraph what can take years of study and experience to understand, so maybe I'm not that bad of a teacher after all lol. Hey I have tried like (*&^%$ so give me credit for that, maybe it helped save a life and maybe a few non electricians or non engineers or technicians here are starting to understand it??? IF NOT dont feel bad that dont make them a bad person. Different strokes and different professions and education and experience for different folks. There are trained professional mechanics and plumbers and farmers and electricians etc etc etc here, and people trained in one field cant be expected to understand what a person trained and experienced in another can.

YOUR QUESTION: "Is the wire really needed?"

1) If you mean the wire down from the Neutral to an earth ground rod, the answer is YES and a minor NO;

YES, earth Grounding of the Neutral at every few overhead HV utility poles and at service entrances IS NEEDED to a) Protect against lightning strikes and surges b) Stabilize and keep the grid at a common low voltage reference MOTHER EARTH.

NO, It will still work if the Neutral weren't earth grounded every so often and at service entrances, but lightning and surges could cause more damage and the grid would be less stabilized and NOT all at the same common low voltage MOTHER EARTH reference.

2) If you mean the Neutral itself running horizontally up there on the utility poles; Again YES its needed with a minor NO

YES its needed to conduct normal return current from the HOT and its a low resistance (less voltage drop) copper or aluminum or coated conductor same as the HOT Conductor.

NO things can still "work" (albeit not perfect and subject to voltage drop across higher resistance earth) BECAUSE mother earth itself can serve as a "conductor" (even if dirt is more resistive then a copper wire) but its resistance depends on moisture and mineral and iron content SO SEE WHY A WIRE IS BETTER TO CONDUCT RETURN CURRENT THEN DIRT?????

SUMMARY so that's why you can use a single HOT conductor and use mother earth dirt as the return conductor instead of another wire, but dirt has more resistance then copper and there will be voltage drop and I Squared R energy loss when using it.

NOTE Billy Bob and Bubba needn't flame now because BY GOLLY they and their daddy made something work for years just using one wire and earth as the return current conductor I DIDNT SAY IT WOULDNT WORK I tried to explain why it can work but the reasons why a wire is better as its way less resistance then dirt SO DO AS YOU DARN WELL LIKE AND IF YOU HAVE A GOOD REASON FOR SOMETHING BETTER OR SAFER GO CONVINCE THE NEC AND OSHA, you don't need to argue with little old me lol

George, I know you understand all this but good question to try and help others, best wishes and hope to see you and Wilson at Elnora

John T Long retired EE and rusty so NO WARRANTY take or leave this at your own peril, do whatever you like THERE lol

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