Kevin Miller
New Member
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?
Can I also cover it with spray can foam?
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?
Sorry, but the earth ground has NOTHING to do with the day to day functionality of the circuits in a home, especially lighting.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.
Yes, you can cover it with foam. The connection points to the pipes must remain exposed though, or at least accessible.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, 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.Could I check this with a volt meter?
I did not have the authority to cut off the power but I did get an electrician out to fix it.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.
This is awkward, but...
It looks like you're using an ad blocker. We get it, but (1) terrylove.com can't live without ads, and (2) ad blockers can cause issues with videos and comments. If you'd like to support the site, please allow ads.
If any particular ad is your REASON for blocking ads, please let us know. We might be able to do something about it. Thanks.