What Is a Ground Wire, and Why Is It Important?

You&#;ve heard the term &#;ground wire&#; and you know you have them installed in outlets around your home. But do you know what they do? The answer has major implications for household electrical safety.

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What Does a Ground Wire Do?

The ground wire serves as a secure route for electrical currents in case of a short circuit. If a short circuit occurs, the ground wire will trigger the circuit breaker or fuse, offering a much safer alternative to the hazardous electrical shock that would otherwise occur. As the name implies, a ground wire is an electrical wire that extends into the ground below your home. Electrical code requirements making ground wiring standard were phased in during the s, so most modern homes have grounded outlets and electrical panels throughout. 

The purpose of a ground wire is to give excess electrical charges a safe place to go. The solid mass of earth below our feet has a negative electrical charge, which means positive electrical charges are naturally attracted to it. A ground wire helps those positive charges get to the ground in a safe, direct and controlled way, where they can be discharged without the risk of electrical shock or fire.

Shock Absorber

Excess electrical charges are common in any home. They&#;re the reason we safeguard our electronics with surge protectors, which means they include surges from things like lightning strikes and transformer malfunctions. But they also tend to occur several times per day, whenever large appliances start up; if you&#;ve ever noticed your lights briefly flickering when your air conditioner kicks on, that&#;s due to a minor surge of excess electricity.

In a properly grounded electrical system, that excess electricity goes directly into the ground. But if your home has electrical outlets that aren&#;t grounded, the surge could go in a number of dangerous ways.

The most dangerous way is if the electricity finds a path to the ground through a human body. This can happen if you touch an ungrounded plug or outlet at the wrong moment -- the electricity can travel between the part of your body touching the outlet and your feet on the floor, causing burns, nerve damage and even death, if the surge is powerful enough.

If the surge of electricity finds a path through the structural elements in your home, it can spark a fire. And there&#;s always the chance that the electricity will flow directly into appliances and electronics that are plugged into ungrounded outlets, which can damage them.

See For Yourself

There&#;s an easy way to check your outlets to see if they&#;re grounded or not. Grounded outlets have three slots, while ungrounded outlets only have two. The rounded, D-shaped slot is the one connected to the ground wire.

If you have a newer home, chances are good that you have a properly grounded system. In homes built in the early s or earlier, there could be a combination of grounded and ungrounded outlets, depending on the electrical upgrades made over the years. Any DIY or substandard electrical work performed over the years could also mean there are weaknesses in your ground wire network.

The best way to know for sure is to schedule an electrical safety inspection with your local Mister Sparky. Our electricians can help you upgrade any ungrounded outlets as well.

Electrical Earthing Fully Explained

Probably one of the most important safety aspects of an Electrical system is correct earthing (or grounding) throughout the installation. Knowing why and what things need to be earthed is not always clear and I often have to explain to my customers in Leeds why things need to be earthed and the potential dangers of not having the correct earth system in place.

What does the earth wire do?

Earth wires within your Electrical system usually connect all switches, sockets and any other parts back to where the mains supply and Consumer unit or fuse board is. This will then connect to the mass of earth or ground either by a method provided by the Electric supplier, or onsite of your property.

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The basic function of connecting everything to Earth is to ensure that should a fault occur, any electrical fault current will flow down the earth wire and blow the fuse or breaker to disconnect the supply.

Electricity is always trying to find its way to the the ground (think lightening!). The path to earth provided by the installed earth wires should always be of a lower resistance than any alternative paths which may become present under a fault, such as through a persons body through their feet to the ground they are stood on. This means that should something go wrong with the wiring, the electricity will always &#;prefer&#; to take the path down the earth wires as this is the easiest route to earth.

Lightening is what happens when Electricity generated in the sky finds its way to earth. Although a lot less dramatic, electricity within your property is also trying to find its way to earth.

Which Electrical parts require Earthing?

There can be many factors which can determine this, but put simply any metal or conductive parts of your Electrics (such as a metal case of a kitchen appliance or metal light switch), which could become live due to a fault must be connected to earth.

If a metal casing or a metal switch is not earthed, this can be a huge electric shock risk. One example of this which I see working as an Electrician is decorative metal light switches. If these are not earthed correctly and a live wire comes loose and touches the metal plate, the metal switch plate becomes live, waiting to give the next person who switches on the light a potentially harmful electric shock. If the switch were correctly earthed as soon as the wire touched the metal the electric would blow the protective breaker and disconnect the supply.

Unfortunately the lights would not work until an Electrician had repaired the problem, but this is a much preferred scenario to touching a live switch!

To ensure your Electrics are safe and have the correct earthing system installed make sure you always use a qualified, competent Electrician for any work and have an Electrical Condition Report safety check when required (every ten or five years for a domestic property).

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