Earth for Air-con units.

[Orinoco]

Hi all, got a question.

Is it ok to earth the air con-units , 4 of them to the steel roof beams.

Or should all earth connection go directly back to the CU. ?

This is a new build and I’m having problems with the spark on this one.

What should it be ? anyone

Thanks Orinoco
 

[KhunLA]

I think you need a new sparky if you even have to ask, and he doesn't plan on running the ground back to the breaker panel, and from there, 'earthed' in the earth / ground with a copper wrapped ground pole.

 

New builds, it's the law anyway, all outlets & wiring should be grounded also.

[Orinoco]

1 hour ago, KhunLA said:

I think you need a new sparky if you even have to ask, and he doesn't plan on running the ground back to the breaker panel, and from there, 'earthed' in the earth / ground with a copper wrapped ground pole.

 

New builds, it's the law anyway, all outlets & wiring should be grounded also.

Yes, his grounded the outlets. 5 have reversed neutral and live, easy fix.

Apart from one on the water pump, pulled them on this today for the second time,  no earth.

But i'm sure your right, that all earths should go back to the Cu.

( that's what i thought)

Yes, we have a ground rod, different story for that, we have two now !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, when all finished i will disconnect wire to both ground rods and make a new single ground rod on opposite side of house and back to Cu.

Joy oh joy house build. was going ok till water and spark crew were on site. they are just set in there old ways. ( bad ways and short cuts )

BTW i'm no electrician.

 

 

[Led Lolly Yellow Lolly]

9 hours ago, Orinoco said:

Is it ok to earth the air con-units , 4 of them to the steel roof beams.

NO

 

9 hours ago, Orinoco said:

Or should all earth connection go directly back to the CU. ?

Yes

 

9 hours ago, Orinoco said:

This is a new build and I’m having problems with the spark on this one.

 

7 hours ago, Orinoco said:

Yes, his grounded the outlets. 5 have reversed neutral and live, easy fix

 

7 hours ago, Orinoco said:

Apart from one on the water pump, pulled them on this today for the second time,  no earth.

 

7 hours ago, Orinoco said:

BTW i'm no electrician.

. . . It sounds to me like your electrician is no electrician, whereas you are doing the electrician stuff yourself and in a more competent manner. Maybe just do it all yourself? This is my recommendation. I am very happy to offer advice if you need it. If there's one thing I hate, it's paying people to do stuff that I end up doing myself anyway. My advice is just cut out the paid morons from the outset.

[kekalot]

33 minutes ago, Led Lolly Yellow Lolly said:

. . . It sounds to me like your electrician is no electrician, whereas you are doing the electrician stuff yourself and in a more competent manner. Maybe just do it all yourself? This is my recommendation. I am very happy to offer advice if you need it. If there's one thing I hate, it's paying people to do stuff that I end up doing myself anyway. My advice is just cut out the paid morons from the outset.

yep, had the hardest time to get 2-3 "electricians" to come and ground a single outlet on an old building

I was getting shocked left and right on every single thing, computer monitor, microphone, fridge etc. they couldn't care less.

acted like it was a big job and weren't interested in doing it for like 500 baht (the 5-6 minutes it would have taken them)

 

in the end, i went and bought some proper US type socket with a enclosure box, drilled a little hole at the top of it and routed the green cable up the ceiling to join another grounded wire from a different floor bathroom, cost me like 300 baht and even as a very cautious beginner it took me MAYBE 15 minutes, they would have been done in like 5

 

I've had so many issues with grounding that I bought a ground tester on Lazada and if I ever visit new places I check their ground and.. 90% of the time it's not and when you tell them about it they just shrug.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 hour ago, Led Lolly Yellow Lolly said:

NO

 

Yes

 

 

 

 

. . . It sounds to me like your electrician is no electrician, whereas you are doing the electrician stuff yourself and in a more competent manner. Maybe just do it all yourself? This is my recommendation. I am very happy to offer advice if you need it. If there's one thing I hate, it's paying people to do stuff that I end up doing myself anyway. My advice is just cut out the paid morons from the outset.

I paid so called electricians to install the electric shower heater so I had someone to blame if anyone got electrocuted. I still had to install a proper ground rod instead of the 1 foot rod he put in.

[thaibeachlovers]

10 hours ago, Orinoco said:

Is it ok to earth the air con-units , 4 of them to the steel roof beams.

Are you assuming the roof beams are themselves properly earthed, or have you checked with a meter?

[Led Lolly Yellow Lolly]

You think that's bad, I once had an aircon fitted and they shoved a 6 inch length of coolant pipe into the ground, wrapped one end of a piece of wire around that and put the other end under a screw on the compressor case.

[thaibeachlovers]

8 hours ago, Orinoco said:

Yes, we have a ground rod, different story for that, we have two now !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, when all finished i will disconnect wire to both ground rods and make a new single ground rod on opposite side of house and back to Cu.

If those are the proper length, and test that they earth properly, why would you go to the trouble of replacing them?

[Led Lolly Yellow Lolly]

3 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Are you assuming the roof beams are themselves properly earthed, or have you checked with a meter?

The steel roof structure will almost certainly be well grounded (Google "Ufer Ground") but that's not the point, everything must be bonded to the same ground plane as the CU if that's the route you're taking.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 minute ago, Led Lolly Yellow Lolly said:

The steel roof structure will almost certainly be well grounded (Google "Ufer Ground") but that's not the point, everything must be bonded to the CU if that's the route you're taking.

Surely that would be depending on whether the roof beams are properly welded to the post rebar, and if the rebar actually goes deep enough in the ground?

 

"Everything must be" does not apply in LOS, whatever the regulations state. Things are only safe if one does it oneself, IMO ( assuming one actually knows how to do it oneself ).

[Led Lolly Yellow Lolly]

9 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

"Everything must be" does not apply in LOS, whatever the regulations state.

. . . The physics stays the same. It's not a joke to say that as a Farang I've had the line "Thai electic not same Farang electic" in arguments with electricians. I always win the arguments because I'm the one authorising the work and the payments. You can find competent electricians in Thailand, to be sure, but they'll cost you a lot more than 500 Baht a day.

 

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

1 minute ago, Led Lolly Yellow Lolly said:

. . . The physics stays the same. It's not a joke to say that as a Farang I've had the line "Thai electic not same Farang electic" in arguments with electricians. I always win the arguments because I'm the one authorising the work and the payments. You can find competent electricians in Thailand, to be sure, but they'll cost you a lot more than 500 Baht a day.

I avoided the need for electricians by learning to do it myself, with help from this very subforum. Subsequently went on to rewire 3 houses in LOS, given they were dangerous.

The best thing I ever learned from this subforum was to install an RCD. Saved my life more than once.

[Led Lolly Yellow Lolly]

21 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Surely that would be depending on whether the roof beams are properly welded to the post rebar, and if the rebar actually goes deep enough in the ground?

Take a look at this picture I took when refusing to pay an electrician. . .

 

 

 

. . . Ignore the fact the cables are the wrong colour, ignore the fact he used garbage Chang sockets. . . The problem (and it's a serious one) is what's called a a Bootleg Ground. They do it because it saves a few metres of copper, and they don't care about the extreme hazard it creates. They're reckless, irresponsible morons. I don't differentiate between what you see in this image, and wrapping a cable around some rebar in the roof (which might also have a neutral wrapped around it, SOMEWHERE.

Needless to say, this guy never worked for me again.

 

The most disturbing thing about a Bootleg Ground is that it'll pass a rudimentary check with a meter (i.e. you only know the problem is there by opening the socket and looking with your eyes).