Ground The Block Heater?
 

I bought a timer for the block heater the other day and came to find that it doesnt have the 3rd connection for the ground. Does the block heater need to be grounded using all 3 wires or can I just use an adapter so I can hook up a 3 prong extension cord to the timer?

A pair of pliers and a few seconds fix up any ground plug out there. Many years ago these grounded plugs meant something but for decades now the building codes all mandate that your electrical panel be grounded and this kind of makes these grounded plugs wasted effort. But they are still required for commercial use. This is why you still see them on everything.

Ok Awesome I just didnt know if it would make electrolasis in the cooling system or something.

If it touches something that creates a short it's just gonna throw the breaker switch and if something fouls in their that would overload anything it just feeds right through the ground on your breaker box. In the old days that third arm on the plug would have just been connected to a wire that atached to the electric receptacle box. In the very new or remodeled homes you may actually have a three wire system that goes all the way to the breaker box and then the wires for the third leg would be connected to the ground there.

But in any case, no juice travels through the third leg so it's not gonna affect the amount of juice that is flowing through the heater in any way. I always just break em off of anythig that I know I won't be returning to the store for some reason.

Current leakage from immersion heaters happens frequently, truck, dishwasher, hot water heater or otherwise, and and it doesn't trip a breaker unless the short is severe enough to overload the breaker rating. The ground return picks up this recirculating current and returns it to the source, aka either the neutral/ground buss in the breaker box if terminated there together, or out at the transformer servicing the building. In any case, bypassing this ground return leaves nowhere for the current to go except circulate through the vehicles negative neutral system aka the "ground". This can be quite devastating on ECM's not to mention set up a nasty galvanic situation. The ground lug is still a safety feature that shouldn't be ignored especially in an environment mixed with AC and DC, as well as liquids. Take it for what it's worth, but there are timers that incorporate the ground circuit. Or you can splice around the timer with a ground circuit, connecting the two cords ground conductors outside the timer.

Chris

Great answer Chris. And I would defintely agree.

Monster Truck...what kind of timer did you buy? You should have the Heavy Duty type that is meant for outdoor use (even if you have it plugged into the garage or somewhere inside). It should be something like this:

I didnt think people did that anymore

Like Chgris above pointed out the the ground is a safety measure for bleeding current from a bad heater element. If the ground was missing I bet you going to get a shock everytime you touched your truck on a wet day... (Trust me I learned the hard way!) :w2:

and if you are wet, it could be a damned good shock

My FIL used to have a Lance camper and he had the camper plugged in one day at the house doing some maintenance which also had the driveway soaked. I walked up in my worn out cowboy boots and leaned on the side of the camper. Found out really quick that he had a ground issue. lol

The only thing I have ever worried about this with is water tank heaters, that the appliance will be submerged while in use and I use the GFI, or whatever the safety plug is called on it so that it shuts down at the first sign of a leak.

I know that in theory this ground is an important thing for every plug. In reality there are very few homes out there that are wired for this third leg to actually do anything. It's just dead, it leads to nothing. There are a few homes out there that are the exception to that. This is why I use the safety plug on the water heaters, they kill the power and your not counting on the home system to do it.

A few years back a friend of mine, who is an electrician was selling his house. To pass the home inspection he had to have all grounded outlets in the home, 3 leg instead of just 2. So it took us almost 4 hours but we changed every outlet in the house to the 3 prong style plugs. Didn't mean we changed anything in the wiring, just what the plugs looked like. So if your counting on that 3rd leg as a true ground, your already wrong. For a true ground it has to be one of the safety switches like they use in most bathrooms of public buildings and some residential.

First of all it's not a "leg" at all. Legs refer to voltage supply lines. a 110/115/120 circuit only has one leg, the other two are "conductors". 208/220/230/240 circuits have 2 legs, and a 3 phase circuit of any voltage has 3 legs. High voltage single phase circuits may also have a neutral and a ground conductor for a total of 4 conductors respectively. 3 phase circuits generally are neutral free but have a 4th conductor for a ground. The "ground" conductor is exactly that. An earth return to dissipate stray current. They normally are not current carrying, just as you said, however should a short occur this conductor assumes the role of carrying the stray current back to earth ground, whether it be the box busses tied to a ground spike, a surface or areal transformer , or at another power origin point. There are two types of "shorts". Ones that short the appliance internally that don't necessarily send current to casings. These shorts will overload the breaker causing it to trip, though the user may be in no danger of receiving a shock. The other type of short is a short to ground. This situation sends stray current to the framework, casing, etc of whatever electrical device is in question. This is the type of short that the ground conductor is responsible for handling. If the short is severe enough to draw excess current, the breaker may trip. If not, you'll get shocked unless the current has a conductive path away from the device better than you.

GFCI's (ground fault circuit interrupter)......NOT designed for circuit or device protection. They are designed as people protection. A GFCI monitors current traveling from line to neutral. If it senses a current imbalance between it's line an neutral taps...even milliamps...it trips. It does not have an amp rating and therefor is NOT a circuit or device protection component. It's merely a very sensitive gauge that monitors a circuit confirming that all the current that an electrical device uses flows from line to neutral without any loss indicating a short to ground.

As for your electrician friend, he must have lived in a house that was built in the 20's before ground circuits were national code. If he just put grounded plates on a receptacle without a ground circuit, then the home inspector didn't do his follow-up very well, and that's one electrician I wouldn't let close to any home I live in. Talk about opening yourself up for a lawsuit.....

I don't want to argue here, but you have a misled idea of electricity and i don't want to see your advice spell harm or damage to someone looking for advice. So don't take it personal, as it is not intended. People just need to know the right info. ALL homes built today do indeed have a ground system, and you're right, they don't play a role in supplying or returning voltage anywhere in the house.....unless there's a problem, then they play a very key role. Remember, AC is not at all like DC, and the generic term "ground" is not at all similair to the two. A DC ground is in fact technically a "neutral negative", which acts much like the "neutral" conductor in an AC system. But that's as close as they come in similarity. So don't EVER treat an AC ground like a DC ground, or every piece of metallic conduit, lamp fixture, stove surface etc will instantly become current carrying conductors throughout the whole building. Anyway 'nuff said. You folks take it how you want, but that's the truth.

Chris

Its just a cheapo I snagged when shopping at walmart, Im convinced to go spend the 7 dollars at my local hardware store for a outdoor model.


Thanks for all this info fellas I have learned alot. My house and the shop are earth grounded.

You don't ever have to worry about makin me mad about dissagreeing with me at all. I relate things to the best of my knowledge, but have never laid claims to knowing everything. If I knew everything i would have a site whre i was the only one able to give answers. That's why we have discussions, to compare notes as long as it stays polite it's all good.

I trust every word you have said here, it is apparent that you know what your talkin about. For myself I'm comfortable with how I'm doing things just beause of my experiances with it. However I am glad you jumped in so that everybody can hear all sides of it and make their own decision.

The only way I can think of this plug being a problem with shorting, or that I have ever had a problem with is if the plug or appliance were submerged while plugged in. Other then this their just really isn't any way that I can think of for this to create a problem. If it is submerged odds are pretty good you got bigger problems on yer hands.

Remember I'm not tellin anybody they are wrong here, just gettin a better understanding of it and asking questions for myself.

No worries Uncle....glad I came across non-offensive. Written word sometimes misses the intended context. You are right that most of todays electrical gizmos make it awful hard to get shocked because they are "double insulated". On top of having the ground circuit, their construction also alleviates possibility of shock. Things like non conductive cases and frameworks, triggers, etc etc really leave no path to you for electricity to travel upon even if they do experience an electrical failure. But double insulation doesn't work for everything...if not strictly due to construction materials used to make it. If there is ANY metallic component attached to the current carrying device ie the motor, the elements or whatever the case may be, and a short to ground occurs without a ground conductor...POW, you a$$ is gonna pucker a little :) providing YOU yourself have a good path to ground....and yup, old worn out wet cowboy boots on a wet driveway grounds you to the earth fairly well and don't mix all that hot with a live camper wall with no grounds LOL!

Chris

You nailed it.:U:

Regardless of whats been said here - that's a good plan. The block heater draws something like 8 amps and in my book, overkill is best. Get a digital one if you have the extra funds - they are easier to program.