Dawson's Electric is the electrician to call for electrical grounding in Raleigh, NC. According to the National Electrical Code, your home’s electrical system must have a built-in path to the ground. It serves as a vital safety mechanism in the event of a lightning strike or other power surge.
Without it, your home could catch fire from the excess voltage or you could receive a fatal shock if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. You can count on our electricians to see to your home’s grounding needs, protecting it and you from harm.
Our Raleigh Electrical Services Include:
Expert Grounding Service in Raleigh
When electrical service became common in homes here in Raleigh, ungrounded, two-pronged outlets were common. It wasn’t until the 1960s that electrical codes began requiring a path to the ground in homes. A ground path means exactly what it sounds like. It is a wire that connects your home’s electrical system to the ground.
In the early days, this was typically accomplished by running a wire to a home’s incoming water pipe. If you own an older home, this may be how your home’s electrical grounding works. However, this may no longer function as intended.
The replacement of water infrastructure over the years could have included the use of PVC piping. That would have interrupted your home’s electrical path to the ground. In that case, you would be vulnerable to fires and electrocutions from unexpected power surges. Plus, your home’s outlets wouldn’t be protecting your devices and appliances as they should.
FAQs
To run a ground wire to an electrical panel box, start by:
- Turning off the power to the electrical panel.
Knock out the circle on the side of your breaker box with a hammer and a screwdriver.
Run the wire into the electrical breaker’s box.
Connect the wires to their respective connection points.
Depending on if you have a two or three-wire cable, the connection points will vary. When it comes to running a ground wire to your electrical panel box yourself, you should ensure that there is no power to the electrical panel box before you begin working on it. Call us today to get help running a ground wire to your electrical panel box.
If you have a circuit tester you should:
- Put the red probe inside the small outlet slot.
- Put the black probe in the larger outlet slot.
- Check for an indicator light.
If you do not see an indicator light, switch the probes to see if it was grounded in reverse.
If an indicator light never shows up, then the outlet is not grounded and you should refrain from using it. Another way to check to see if your house is properly grounded is to make sure that your outlets are three-prong, rather than 2 prongs since the third hole is a grounding component. To get your house’s electrical systems inspected, contact us today.
Proper electrical grounding provides your home’s electrical system with multiple benefits.
- Protection against overvoltages
- Reduced risk of electrical fires
- Reduced risk of electrocution
- Reduced electrical line noise
Today’s electrical codes require that your home has a path to the ground with a resistance of 25 ohms or less. To accomplish that, we may install more than one ground rod outside of your home. A ground rod is a metal rod that’s between 8 and 10 feet long. It gets installed into the earth near your home and connected to your electrical panel via a wire.
Typically, a two-rod system will see each installed at least 6 feet from the other. That provides ample room for electrical dissipation in the event of a power surge.
Your Electrical Grounding Specialists
We’ve served local homeowners since 2005, amassing an impressively long list of positive reviews in that time. We’re Better Business Bureau accredited with an A+ rating, too.
So, when you need electrical grounding services in Raleigh, call Dawson's Electric right away!