Electrical Grounding Systems

Electrical Grounding Services Near Cape Coral, FL

Electricity powers your home but can be dangerous without a grounding system. If there’s a surge of excess current, it can cause a short circuit, damage to electronics and appliances, and even shocks and fires. You can count on Service Today! for solutions that ensure your safety and the proper function of your electrical system. More stable voltage can prolong the life of devices and prevent flickering lights and other signs of fluctuations in current. An electrical grounding system can fully protect your Cape Coral home and its occupants.

What Is Electrical Grounding?

Electrical grounding, like its name suggests, is a means to route electrical current into the ground. It consists of wiring that serves as a return path; electricity follows the path of least resistance, making electrical grounding systems extremely effective. Surges of electricity will not back into your home where people can be shocked or burned, or electronic devices can be overloaded and destroyed.

Properly grounding electricity requires ground rods, or grounding electrodes, usually made of copper. They connect your grounding system to earth ground. A ground rod is 8 or 10 feet long (in diameters of 3/8, ½, ¾, or 1 inch) and can be stacked or joined with special clamps. The National Electrical Code (NEC) requires ground rods to be at least six feet apart when more than one is used, and that ground systems have grounding resistance of 25 ohms or less.

A ground wire links the ground rod to the service ground connection. It is a copper wire that is 6 AWG or larger; however, a 4 AWG grounding electrode conductor is required for 200-amp systems. Other important parts of electrical grounding systems are grounding clamps that connect the conductor/wire to the ground rod. They include oval-shaped acorn clamps suited for direct burial applications and two-piece brass-toothed clamps best suited for use inside the home around water pipes.

Why Is It Important?

Electrical grounding has a few benefits, including:

• Prevent Appliance Damage: Most electronic system failures are caused by problems with electrical wiring or grounding. Power issues can damage an appliance in one big surge or over time as smaller, yet frequent, fluctuations take a toll.
• Safety: A grounding system routes excess voltage away, so a circuit breaker is more likely to trip if there’s an electrical fault. It eliminates the shock hazard in your home and addresses the root cause of most overloads, so electrical shocks and fires are prevented.
• Lowers Noise Level: Electrical noise, or unwanted disturbances in an electrical signal, is interference that can be temporary or permanent. It can come from within the system or from external sources. The risks of electrical noise include faulty circuits and equipment damage.

Call Service Today!

Service Today! provides high-quality electrical grounding services in Cape Coral, FL. We are committed to safety and quality and provide the best possible care to our customers. In addition to award-winning electrical installation and repair service, we specialize in routine maintenance and helping you save. Learn more about our specials and financing, and schedule service in your Cape Coral home, by calling 239-303-4525 today!