Grounding – A Must !
I’m probably going to repeat several items/topics that have been said before, but it never hurts to be reminded. And, maybe you’ll read something here, that you hadn’t thought of.
The Electric Companies furnish a Ground to your Electrical Box:
BUNK, at best it’s poor! If you have your Lines run on Poles, all they do is run a Bare Ground (usually Aluminum) wire down the side of it, coil it around the buried end, nail it in place, and all you got to do is wait for a few years, and it will corrode away, and leave you “Groundless”, almost.
If you happen to have your Electric Supply buried, that’s even worse! Out of sight, out of mind!
Most newer houses, REQUIRE a Ground Rod. IF you don’t have one, get one put in! Besides the Safety issue, it WILL save you bunches of bucks over a few years in Electrical Cost. I could go into why that is, but, this Post is going to be too long anyway!
IF you have one already, DON’T trust it being solid. The connection to it, the wire, is usually pretty close to the earth, and needs “RE-Clamping”, every couple years. You CAN do this yourself, if you’re even a little handy with tools, no need to bring in an expensive Electrician for this. You need to take it loose, Wire Brush the Rod and maybe cut off a little of the wire, and tighten it back up tightly.
You can also look in your Electrical Distribution Panel, it won’t bite you if you’re careful! The Ground wires may be on a separate Block by themselves, but, if they’re not, that’s ok, and they will share the Neutral Buss, with the White Wires. This/these connections should be checked for tightness too. You can do this yourself.
You have a Ground Wire through out your house:
Maybe you do, and maybe not! Even if it’s there, frequently it’s not connected/contiguous, specially if they’ve used Plastic Receptacle Boxes. Sorry, but, you need to look in EACH one, and see that the group of (usually bare) wires, are twisted together and capped with a Wire Nut, and one wire from that twist, is coming up to the Ground Screw on the Receptacle.
WHAT!, your receptacles don’t have ground screws! Of course they don’t, that cost money in construction, and “MAYBE” they ran a little wire under where the receptacle tightens up to the Box.
RLA mentioned using a “Industrial” Receptacle in his
Post #11. You may be better off asking for a “Hospital Grade” Receptacle, those have a little Green Dot on the Front of them.
Hubble Electric is a VERY reputable manufacturer, and stay away from P&S, they’re lousy! You pay exactly for what you get there, expect at least $4-6 for a good Grounded Receptacle, with strong gripping force. Hospital Electrical Requirements (in my locale), require 15oz pulling pressure, to remove the Plug.
You can test one right there in the Hardware Store, stick a Plug in it, and if it’s easy to pull out, that’s the wrong one to buy! Usually that Screw will be colored “Green”, but as long as it’s connected to the “Strap” that goes around the Receptacle, and tightens up to the box, that’s the one!
FYI: and don’t batch me out for this please !
ROUND Post in receptacle is the
GROUND wire, has a
Green Screw to connect it to, Green or Bare wires.
NARROW Flat Blade in Receptacle is the
HOT, has a
Gold/Brass colored screw to it to, Black/Colored wires.
WIDE Flat Blade in the Receptacle, is the
NEUTRAL wire, has a
Silver colored screw to connect it to White wires.
I mention this since I KNOW you’re going to go around and check all your receptacles, IF you find one of these Receptacles, that is not wired as above, that’s called “
Reverse Polarity”, and IF you have a Buzzing or other problem with your Audio, and are using a Polarized Power Cord/Plug with the system, that just could be the reason. And if there is a Reversed Polarity somewhere in your house, that’s being used by a Grounded piece of equipment, that could very likely cause a interference problem. SO, are you more willing now, to check those things out ? Maybe !
But what if I miss verifying a connection/polarity somewhere, what do I do !
This situation is more likely than not, you can use a Electrical Polarity Checker” if you have one to do this, as RLA mentioned in his Post #11,or if you want to, get a long/50’ piece of spare wire, any gauge, clamp it on the nearest metal COLD water Pipe (like under the Sink), and use your Analog or Electronic VOM (Voltage Meter) in the Ohms Scale, to verify continuity. Just clip the Black Lead from your Meter to it (the long wire), and pull it around to all the Receptacles, to check them out. It’s a temporary Lead Wire.
Be sure to Zero the Meter with the Long Wire in circuit, where you’ll get a fairly accurate reading on “resistance”. It should be Zero Ohms, with an Analog Meter, and less than .001 with a good 4 Digit Electronic Meter. BE SUE to stick the Red Probe into the ROUND hole in the Receptacle when using the Ohms Scale, but, it’s a good time to see if you’re getting good Voltage to the Receptacle too. That would be the Narrow Blade, and remember to change the Meter to the ACV (Alternating Current-Voltage) Scale. Good voltage is more than you think. Should be 120/125 Volts, not 110 or less !
Ground you System every chance you get !
If your System comes through the Attic, find a GALVANIZED Pipe to ground to. Most of the Splitters for your TV Distribution System have (or should) a screw, to ground them. DON’T use a BLACK Pipe to ground to, that’s usually Natural Gas, and not a good idea. BUT, don’t ground to a HOT Water Pipe either.
Many of the newer Hot Water Heaters have a Fiberglass Tank, and if you ground to the Hot Pipe in the Attic, it may NOT be connected to Ground, as you would expect a Cold Water Pipe to be.
Many houses have PVC Piping in them, for both Hot and Cold, but, if you go to your Hot Water Heater, and see that it has Steel Galvanized Pipes supplying it, you can “Bridge” these pipes, and get good continuity.
Just get two Pipe Clamps and a short piece of (12 Gauge) wire, and electrically tie them together (sort of a jumper wire). Taking the Tank out of the Circuit.
IF you can’t tell Hot from Cold in the Attic, go to the nearest Bathroom(s), and run the Hot Water for a while. Then go feel of the Pipe, and clamp to the one which is not hot.
Other than that, you probably got it fixed, but, remember that all the Audio and Video Cabling you’re using behind your System, carries a Shield. That’s a common Ground to every piece. But, doesn’t hurt to run a separate small Ground Wire to the Components, specially if they have a Grounding Lug on them. Turntables are very prone to have Lugs/Ground Wires, which need to be grounded to your Amp.
You guys still spin some Vinyl, don’t ya !
Have a good Day !
