[Bobby Williber]

Why is the electricity going into earth?

 

[Bobby Williber]

My understanding for a ground rod is for lighting and stray voltages, static. Will not save you from a fault.

 

[Bobby Williber]

You are correct. Generated electricity does not return to the earth because it didn't come from the earth , it returns to where it came from. Most of it will return on the conductors back to where it came from while a very small amount may travel through the earth back to where it came from. This amount will be determined by the resistance of the path and the earth is a very poor conductor so very little current will flow, never enough to clear a fault at the voltages we utilize. Just remember, any generated electrons that enter the earth must end up at their source, every single one of them. That is why it is called a circuit. No circuit, no electron flow. If you block the race track none of the race cars will make it back to the start line and they will simply stop moving.

Bingo, you have no idea how many people think ground rods will save them in a fault.

 

[Bobby Williber]

Electricity wants nothing to do with ground/earth it will always go back where it came from, the transformer through neutral. That’s why it’s very important to have it grounds bonded to neutral in the main panel or meter.

 

[Bobby Williber]

Well 'save you from a fault' is a pretty vague statement. Lots of different faults may occur over a period of time. Bottom a grounding electrode as part of a proper system plays many roles and does much more good than zero ground rods. If any one believes a properly placed ground rod serves no purpose then simply take the dayem thing loose and see how that works.

Ok, where does the electricity go, what pulls it in to the earth?

 

[Bobby Williber]

here spend a few minutes reading and you will have all your answers...
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...ps://www.explainthatstuff.com/electricity.html&usg=AOvVaw0mKusqhnXvIBPLcVfZlFHa

As I said what pulls electricity into the earth. I can drive a rod in the earth and hook it up to a breaker and it will not trip. I can’t Make a more dead ground short than that. Electricity always goes back to where it came from, the earth is a very poor conductor.

 

[Bobby Williber]

Ok, let’s say I have a electric motor with a fault to the frame on one of the hot legs and just a ground rod connected to the frame, not bonded. I go touch it am I live with electricity or am I safe?

 

[Bobby Williber]

He who asked questions and knows of a answer still asks question to see other peoples view to try to under stand all possible out comes. But I guess he who asks questions is a bigger fool than he who doesn’t and pretending to know.

 

[Bobby Williber]

If the ground rod is installed properly and the XO of the transformer is grounded the breaker will trip because all the current from the hot leg will flow to ground back to XO.

There are High Resistance Grounding systems in industrial manufacturing plants that connect the XO terminal ( center of the winding on the secondary side of the transformer) to ground through a large resistor that limits the current flow to ground in the case of a ground fault on a motor. This allows the motor to continue to run, even in a ground fault condition until repairs can be scheduled.

Here is a good link that explains it.

https://www.benderinc.com/know-how/technology/high-resistance-grounded-system-hrg

I get what your saying, no down time until maintenance, but in residential wiring earth has a high resistance not tripping the breaker, kinda like high resistance grounding.
Now if the ground rod was bonded to neutral the right way then the fault current would travel back through neutral to the source.

 

[Bobby Williber]

Why do the 'ground' (bare) wires have to be seperate from the 'neutral' (generally white) wires now, when it used to be OK to connect them all together in the breaker panel?

Code says to bond ground and neutral together only on the first main disconnect, mainly because if there is a fault in the system the fault goes to the ground wire first then jumps over to neutral to the transformer. The only way it can do that is at the one bonded connection, if more than one connection the fault current could go threw other neutrals in the system and cause harm to what ever is hooked to the neutrals. Thats why the first connection is bonded, straight shot to the transformer. At least thats my understanding of it.

 

[Bobby Williber]

So the neutral is a current carrying conductor. For almost all circuits the "Hot" wire is connected to the neutral wire with a load (think air conditioner) in between. The resistance of this load is what keeps the current from from getting so high that it trips the breaker. So a "short" happens when the hot and neutral or ground gets together without the load in between.

I don't agree with your statement "but in residential wiring earth has a high resistance". There are so many factors that effect the resistance of the ground rod to ground. Normally for residential installations it should be 5 ohms or less. I suspect that in Florida or New Orleans they get close to Zero because of the water table in the ground.

I wouldn't think earth could pass enough current to trip a breaker, High resistance ,at least at low voltages 120-575.

 

[Bobby Williber]

Where does it go after its used? Modern physics has proved that the Ether doesn't exist but before that was proved, that's were it went.

A negatively charged cloud can pull lightning to the Earth. Think straight polarity. A positive charged cloud can draw lightning from the Earth. Think reverse polarity.

Edit: change entropy to ether

I under stand about lighting and the earth because earth is a part of the circuit, earth - or + and cloud -or +. Man mad electricity is different circuit than lightning or natural sources of electricity, hot legs output from the transformer, neutrals bring back to the transformer, kinda like two welding machines, it always goes back to its source and no other circuit.