So I have a nice computer in my garage (I basically live out of the garage), I bought an Uninterrupted Power Supply for it, and it works fine. Then, I moved the computer to another location in the garage, now the UPS has a light that lights ups saying "faulty ground wire." I looked at the outlet, it has 3 plugs, I even tried a different outlet from the same location, same problem. I thought it was no big deal, so I used it. A while ago, I took the casing off of the computer for better cooling, and here's the problem. Whenever I touch the bare metal on the casing I would get shocked, and I plugged in my PDA into the computer's USB cable, if I touch my metal PDA I get shocked too. So how to fix this issue with the ground wire? I read that one way is to drill a copper rod (grounding rod?) into the ground and attach the ground wire into that one. Is this how it is done?
2007-10-12 12:23:52 · 7 answers · asked by Jeremy 2 in Home & Garden ➔ Do It Yourself (DIY)
the answers don't really address if the drilling a copper rod into the ground will help, can someone clarify this one?
2007-10-12 12:58:27 · update #1
Driving a copper rod into the ground won't do a thing unless you hook something to it. You have you find out if your receptacles even have ground wires or what is going on. Do some exploring instead of looking for easy answer here.
P.S. for some reason you are the ground.
2007-10-12 12:28:31 · answer #1 · answered by James 5 · 0⤊ 3⤋
NO. You cannot effectively ground a circuit by driving a ground rod and connecting to it. You need a ground wire connected to the grounded receptacle third prong, and bonded in the main service panel to the neutral. I have a feeling the garage electric service was done by a hack electrician or a joe homeowner who didn't do the install correctly. Now, that said, a ground wire should not carry any current except when something is wrong. So, in other words, your getting a shock is something more serious than not having a ground wire. In normal conditions, you will not get a shock even without a ground. If I was you, I would call in a real electrician, with a volt meter, to check the service and the computer to see what is wrong. Do it soon. Electricity is nothing to fool with. You are fortunate you are not dead. Don't take any more chances with this.
2007-10-12 16:23:48 · answer #2 · answered by John himself 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
buy one of those inexpensive 3 led plug in circuit testers ( http://computers.pricegrabber.com/tools-test-equipment/m/3141867/ )
if you get an no ground present then you might have a no ground wire and it might be a 2 wire system or a ground wire that has corroded away, and a surge protector will not work as they rely on the presence of a ground to get a reference. as some one else pointed out it very well may that some one either bonded the neutral to the ground or used the ground as a neutral , a dangerous condition, you should not get shocked
2007-10-12 14:51:01 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Have an electrician examine the wiring in that
garage, especially if you "basically live out of" it.
An unsafe condition exists if you are getting small
shocks with dry hands in dry weather, you might get
knocked on your a** if it rains.
The wiring system should have a ground, (I suspect that it
did at one time, the wire failed, and some local fix-it guy
used the old ground as a neutral. (BAD IDEA).
You should have ground fault outlets in there in any
event, so upgrade now.
2007-10-12 13:09:52 · answer #4 · answered by Irv S 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
The ground wire is probably not connected inside the wall outlet!!
2007-10-12 12:36:43 · answer #5 · answered by Rawstuff 007 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
yep, but the wireing should be grounded in the garage, also, some one didnt do there job when it was wired,
2007-10-12 12:33:20 · answer #6 · answered by William B 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
I suspect the problem may be in your equipment, not the wall outlets.
2007-10-12 12:39:33 · answer #7 · answered by morris 5 · 1⤊ 2⤋