Install a socket with grounding, connection rules, safety precautions

Since many residents of apartments and houses believe that installing or replacing an outlet is an incomprehensible and difficult task, few decide to do it themselves. Any person who has ever seen an outlet in a disassembled state paid attention to the fact that not two conductors, but three, are suitable for it, so there is also a grounding of the outlet. Quite often, during the installation of an electrical outlet, people do not connect the ground and this is completely wrong. Why do I need a ground wire? In this article, we will show you how to install a grounded power outlet.

What does such a device look like?

It is important to know what the device looks like in order to connect it correctly. Distinctive feature are additional contacts at the top and bottom. There are two designs: external and internal.

Now devices with an internal location are used in modern buildings, since hidden wires are placed in them. You can see a large variety of products on the shelves of the stores, as earlier all houses had different standards.

The structure of an electrical outlet of this type is very thoughtful, since when connecting a household device, ground is first connected, and only then the conductors with current. This is for added security.so that in the event of a breakdown of equipment, the case is protected.

All devices that are located in buildings must be protected by safety measures. You need to secure devices that have metal elements, to which, in the event of a breakdown, current can go.

For example, this means that any device must be connected to groundso that the wire can take current into the ground if necessary.

In factories, a ground wire is laid throughout the building, which will be connected to all equipment through a small copper wire.

How to connect a grounded outlet in a new home

• In order to determine if there is a grounding cable in your switchboard, located near the stairs, it is enough to find out about this from an electrician who belongs to an apartment building. But let's assume that you already have it.

  In the best case, the sockets should be connected in their own circuit and connected to a dedicated protective device. In this situation, it is quite easy to run the necessary cable into your apartment. If you do not have such a line, then you will need to run a new cable with three conductors.

• In the event that there is no separate circuit in the house, then it is necessary to remove a wire with grounding from the shield to each outlet separately. Such a wire should be two and a half squares thick with an insulated copper conductor.
• Before you put the outlet in a specially designated place, you need to do the wiring and strip them. According to new technologies, three conductors always stick out of the socket.
• It is important to consider that when working with electricity, it is necessary to de-energize the network. First you need to find out what color the conductor is with zero, ground and phase.
• In order to distinguish between wires, a tester with an indicator should be used. The color of the conductors in the room depends on the place of contact of the grounding wire with the shield.
• When connecting, it is better to connect the phase to the right contact, zero to the left, and the grounding cable to the middle or bottommost contact.

How you can not make a connection

It is important to note that a grounding cable can only be connected if it exists. You can often see how zero is connected to the power supply and in the role of grounding. This method violates safety rules. And also at the entrance to the apartment, as a rule, there is a protective device to which both the neutral wire and the phase are connected. You need to know that you cannot connect zero to ground. The point is that there cannot be a wire in the role of a protective one, which has a protective device in the circuit.

It is important to understand why such a connection is dangerous:

1. If zero melts, then the phase will go to electrical appliances. The important thing is that the device itself will stop working and it may seem that it is not energized.
2. And also the electrician who will carry out repair work in the common panel can reverse the phase and zero, since they are not as indicated. In this case, the devices will be energized, which is very dangerous.

What to do if a cable with three cores is laid in the house, but there is no grounding in the apartment? In this case, you only need to connect the phase and zero, and leave the third wire and cover with insulation. It can come in handy if one of the working veins is cut off.

In order to protect your health, it is enough to connect a residual current device.

In the event that you are not sure that you can properly connect the sockets, then it is better to seek professional help.