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The 10 Worst Grounding Mistakes You'll Ever Make

Why common errors in residential, commercial, and industrial wiring can lead to fire and electric shock hazards

Aug. 1, 2008 David Herres | Electrical Construction and Maintenance
Proper grounding and bonding prevent unwanted voltage on non-current-carrying metal objects, such as tool and appliance casings, raceways, and enclosures, as well as facilitate the correct operation of overcurrent devices.

Discuss this Article 2

Omar Abu-Yasein (not verified)
on Oct 15, 2012

is stair platforms used inside buildings required to be grounded
if yes, how
thanks

Anonymous (not verified)
on Apr 11, 2013

A neighbor of mine asked my dad and I to check his water faucet. He said he was getting a shock when he touched it. Sure enough, a volt meter showed increasing voltage the further away from the faucet we tested. 10, 20, and more volts! We tracked it down to the outlet for his new fridge. Instead of grounding the common wire to the pipe, the installer had grounded the hot wire to the pipe! When we disconnected it his electric meter stopped "spinning" rapidly and slowed to a very slow crawl!!!

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