[Elecraft] [KX3] OT: AC wiring, grounds

[Edward R Cole]

My previous house was a homestead house built in 1955.  It had three 
different foundations, a nearly flat roof, and the back half of the 
house wired with two conductor wiring (no U ground outlets).  I 
bought it in 1996 and FHA gave me a waver on the wiring and also a 
non-standard indoor door opening.  I did got thru the house to clear 
ground faults and found one dead outlet with wires burned away.  I 
trimmed/taped them and place a blank cover on that outlet.  Bathroom 
had no ground-fault outlets (another code violation) which I disabled 
to get wiring to pass inspection.  We sold it and moved in 2006.

Its because of these potential (no pun) errors in wiring that I do 
not recommend connecting your antistatic devices to the green safety 
ckt of the house wiring.  Absolute ground is not necessary; only that 
there is not voltage potential between components being 
installed.  Why I also suggest unhooking dc power leads to any PS 
during sensitive component work.

If you start checking outlets you may be in for surprise how few are 
correctly installed.  A simple plug in the outlet ckt tester will 
show ground faults (from Lowes or Home Depot for $12).  Best purchase 
for determining if outlets are hot.

73, Ed - KL7UW
http://www.kl7uw.com
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