We just sold our house and when the buyer’s inspector showed up one of his “safety items” was that he could not verify there was a proper ground on the main panel.
I assume that’s because the ground rod is inside the wall…but how do I prove it? Can an electrician test that the main panel is properly grounded?
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Replies
I assume that's because the ground rod is inside the wall...but how do I prove it? Can an electrician test that the main panel is properly grounded?
I've always checked the grounding visually.
There are different methods of grounding used, depending on where your house is located, and how and when it was built. Ground rods are the fallback when there is nothing better available. Town water supply, a UFER ground in the foundation, a well casing are good grounds. It's common to have ground rods in addition to the primary grounding, but as a supplement or back-up.
An electrician would certainly be able to find it for you unless you have some kind of unusual arrangement. As for testing, there are ways to do it but I never have and couldn't tell you much what's involved.
You can usually see the wire or sometimes a piece of conduit coming out of the panel and follow where it goes. I've never seen a ground rod installed inside a wall! Look around at your waterpipe entrance, or for some wire coming out of a concrete floor or a wire attached to a well casing.
Ed
There's an test I heard old-timers used to do. You disconnect the ground wire from the service panel. Get a 5-amp fuse an hook it inline to the groundwire. Apply 120 volts and see what happens. If the fuse blows, then you have a good ground (less than 25 ohms) that meets the code requirement.
I'm waiting for the day I need to try it. What's your address, anyway :-)
Ed
This is Southern California, and all of the utilities are underground, and I don't think the ground rod is visible.
I guess I'm gonna have to get a local sparky to look at it...
Where's the water meter? That's a pretty typical spot to attach the ground wire nowadays.
In Northern Ca back in the 80's the common spot we used was at a hose bib. We'd hit the bib with a wire coming from the panel, then drop right down to a rod with the same wire.
Ed
The water meter's out by the street...