Can ground wire contact insulation?

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Kevin Miller

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Can the bare ground wire jumping the water meter be in contact with 2" XPS foam board insulation?
Can I also cover it with spray can foam?
 

hj

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UNLESS there is a major problem, there is no "power" going through the ground wire, so it can contact the insulation board. Why would you want to cover it with spray foam?
 

Kevin Miller

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UNLESS there is a major problem, there is no "power" going through the ground wire, so it can contact the insulation board. Why would you want to cover it with spray foam?

The ground wire is only 1" away from the foundations wall so I may or may not be able to get the 2" foam board behind it. If I cut the board and install it up to the ground wire, then I was planning on filling the gap with spray foam and I realize it may be covered unintentionally.
 

Kevin Miller

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It goes around the meter. It comes down from the first floor, then connects after the water meter, and then connects close to where the water enters the house. I could move this last ground connection and I would be fine.

Should I disconnect power to move the ground?
 

WorthFlorida

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Absolutely, you must turn off power when you remove your ground. There could be a potential (voltage) between the two open ends of the ground wire. Touching the 'house' side of the wire and the water meter side at the same time you could get a tickle or the house side and your arm or hand touching a copper pipe. Play safe.
Another reason is this ground acts as a reference point between the power company's neutral and the earth ground. That is without a ground from the home, the neutral could have a potential higher than earth ground. This might cause some electronic devices in the home to go a little screwy. In old homes where the ground connection may have failed due to corrosion, the lights in the home would go brighter or darker when the the power draw would change. I had a carrier in telephony for forty years and one of the first things you check is the ground connections when troubleshooting for some problems.
 

Speedy Petey

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Another reason is this ground acts as a reference point between the power company's neutral and the earth ground. That is without a ground from the home, the neutral could have a potential higher than earth ground. This might cause some electronic devices in the home to go a little screwy. In old homes where the ground connection may have failed due to corrosion, the lights in the home would go brighter or darker when the the power draw would change. I had a carrier in telephony for forty years and one of the first things you check is the ground connections when troubleshooting for some problems.
Sorry, but the earth ground has NOTHING to do with the day to day functionality of the circuits in a home, especially lighting.
If the lights in a home go brighter and dimmer it is NOT because of a corroded earth ground. It is a neutral problem.
 

Speedy Petey

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Can the bare ground wire jumping the water meter be in contact with 2" XPS foam board insulation?
Can I also cover it with spray can foam?
Yes, you can cover it with foam. The connection points to the pipes must remain exposed though, or at least accessible.
 

Kevin Miller

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I am confused why I need to kill the power when there should be no voltage going thru the ground line to begin with.
Also, the ground wire is connected to the water pipe in two places.
I just want to remove and re-position one of the ground connections on the water pipe.
 

LLigetfa

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If the neutral is working as it should there would be little to no current on the ground. If the neutral is not working, the ground could carry a lot of current. Lifting the ground when there is an open fault on the neutral could expose you to voltage potential. I saw one place where there was so much current carried on the ground that it heated the water in the pipe.
 

hj

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quote; I saw one place where there was so much current carried on the ground that it heated the water in the pipe.

In that case the power should have been shut down and service technician called, because the ground may have taken the place of a failed neutral wire.
 

LLigetfa

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Could I check this with a volt meter?
Yes, but the condition can change from one second to the the next as 120V loads vary. The neutral is a centre tap of the 240V transformer so when both legs are equally loaded, there is little or no current carried by the neutral. If you happen to measure the potential at that moment of equilibrium, you would not know of the open fault on the neutral. It is only when one of the two legs carries more load that the neutral carries current.
 

LLigetfa

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quote; I saw one place where there was so much current carried on the ground that it heated the water in the pipe.

In that case the power should have been shut down and service technician called, because the ground may have taken the place of a failed neutral wire.
I did not have the authority to cut off the power but I did get an electrician out to fix it.
 
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