[Elecraft] static ground -the conclusion

[Bob Robertson]

Thanks to all for the replies, particularly for a Sunday morning.

The basic conclusion is "THAT'S NOT A GOOD IDEA!", with a few minor 
variations.

I wasn't comfortable with it either.  My shack & workshop are in an out 
building that was wired 3 years ago and was done right.  All I needed was a 
ground rod for rigs and my tower & I was done.  I was considering moving my 
KX1 building area into my computer room, closer to the bathroom, at least 
for the summer.

BX cable was mentioned- no BX cable here.  And yes I do live in Texas.

My basic concern is grounding of my Weller soldering station, since I do not 
have a grounded 3-wire outlet.

Looks like there is a trip to the attic to run a ground wire for rigs & my 
soldering station in my future.  (I think it will about 3 AM before Mother 
Nature turns on the oven up there.)


>
> My house was built in 1978 before my area was annexed 5 years ago.  Bottom 
> line-  No inspectors, no city code, I've got 3-wire plugs and 2-wire 
> wiring on every plug I've checked.
>
> As I understand the situation, the power company runs 240V lines to the 
> house with a earth ground from the power line transformer and your house 
> to make to split the 240V into two 120V circuits.  Hopefully, these 120V 
> circuits have balanced current flow and there is little current flow in 
> the ground, or neutral lead.
>
> It appears that the neutral (white) wire and the ground (green) wire 
> eventually meet at the ground rod under your meter base.  Assuming that 
> the above is true and that I can verify that the white wire REALLY IS 
> connected to neutral at the circuit breaker panel, can the green screw on 
> the duplex outlet be corrected directly to the neutral at the socket, to 
> ground both my anti-static mat and my Weller soldering station?
>
> All opinions welcome.
>
> (If this theory is a loser, then I've got a trip through two walls, a 
> closet ceiling, and a long attic to run a station ground that I need 
> anyway.  It was almost 100 north of Dallas today and you could probably 
> roast a thanksgiving turkey in my attic.  I would prefer that attic trip 
> be in late fall if possible......................)
>
> NJ5A
>
>
>
> <<snip>>
> I saw a post a few days ago about this.  I have a table mat with snap on
> alligator clip.  I do not have unpainted metal ground.  How exactly do I 
> do
> this using a resistor and 3 prong plug ??
> 73 de Jesse W6JMM