scroll2b

How bad is that? Is that common? My dad's an electrician, but he doesn't seem to care that the house lacks grounding. We live in a dense residential neighborhood, so how crazy are we here for not having any grounding???

audrey

It's not a big deal unless you want to use a power line conditioner or a surge protector, both of which require a grounded circuit.

Chew

My house isn't grounded either, so I can't make use of the UPS I got from Home Depot

Movie_Man

Isn't there a relatively easy way to ground an outlet? Anybody know?

scroll2b

Yeah, but if you want home theater protection, then wtf? You must have grounding, right?? How about just slight surging of the power? Will a surge protector without house grounding be able to handle that?? Thanks.

audrey

A surge protector won't do anything for a slight rise in voltage regardless of grounding; for that you need a power conditioner that includes voltage regulation (many do not include this feature).

To protect from a large voltage spike, such as from lightening, the plug must be properly grounded.

Grounding a circuit/plug isn't difficult if a) everything is accessible; b) you have the skill and confidence; c) if your state requires a licensed electrician to perform the work, you don’t mind skirting code. It’s only three wires; pretty hard to screw up. Check out one of the many available books (e.g. time life) on electrical wiring.

scroll2b

Would a brown out constitute a "slight rise in voltage"?

Movie_Man

A brown out would constitute a "slight reduction in voltage".

scroll2b

So what the hell does a surge protector do?

audrey

As the name implies, a surge protector guards against large, sudden voltage spikes by cutting the flow of electricity before the spike reaches the device (in theory).

Wolf Husky

Electrical grounding in houses didn't become common place until 1967 (within few years). So yeah, it's common. Most houses older than 30 years are not grounded. Grounding can be done, but it's not easy. If you are really concerned about it, then ground only one outlet. I'm no expert, but I would think you could set up ground to one of your water pipes, which would be a simple trip through the flooring in the wallspace.

I wouldn't worry about grounding for lightning though, unless you are putting something on your house or in your yard. The most damage will be caused by power surges or static electricity, and that is why you would want to have a ground. A lightning strike will have 1,000,000 V and 200,000 A. A small piece of copper isn't going to handle that kind of current anyway.

scroll2b

Thanks Wolf Husky. Did I mention your bypass system works wonders?

audrey

I'm not sure where you are getting your information but I believe your statement is incorrect or at best misleading. While it is true that not all surge protectors are rated against lightning, many are.

The most common scenario is not a direct lightning strike but rather one on a transformer near by. A high quality, properly installed surge protector rated for lightning will definitely protect against this type of event and should also protect against a direct hit. A number of surge protectors, such as Panamax, specifically include surges from lightning under their warranty.

Regardless of one's concern about lightning, a surge protector installed on an ungrounded or improperly grounded plug/circuit offers zero protection.

lizard

I use surge protectors primarily for the warranty, which seems to me to be cheap insurance, albeit a hassle to try to collect on. I could be wrong, but I think that a direct lightning hit on my house would fry most of my electronics, surge protectors notwithstanding. An off-site hit to my transformer or the underground utilities isn't likely in my neighborhood.

For me, the biggest risk is a hit to my TV antenna, which I put in a tree away from the house. I run the coax from the antenna through a grounding block and then through a surge protector, but neither seems likely to protect against a direct hit.

I figure that if my house gets hit and burns down, replacing electronics will be the least of my worries. If the house gets hit and just the electronics get fried then the surge protector warranties ought to take care of it. If not, I will have to rely on my house insurance and eat the (fairly high) deductible.

In an ungrounded house, like scroll2b has, I would try very hard to get an outlet retrofitted with a grounding wire, as others have suggested. Surge protector warranties are void if the outlet isn't grounded.

Frank S

There is nothing in the consumer surge protection lines that will even come close to protection from a direct lightening hit! The only surge protection that has a decent chance of stopping a direct Lightening hit are the multi-million dollars surge protection that the skyscrapers use, and even those fail a lot of times!

Surge protection companies guarantee against lightening strikes merely for marketing purposes as the chance of it happening are so low that even if they have to pay out a few people a year the higher sales with the lightening warranty pays for it many times over.

scroll2b

Just went around the house with a surge protector that indicates grounding..... Only very few are actually grounded. And here's the kisser: the outlet right next to my dvd rack IS GROUNDED. Of course, that's at a very inconvient spot to run an extension wire, but maybe that will have to do for now......

audrey

You're right.