My house is currently not grounded to earth, as in, no copper poles are in place - so it’s basically NOT grounded, or rather a so-called “neutral ground” as the house shares its ground with the feed from the main fuse box outside. Not ideal.
I’ve been thinking… How would a regenerator react and function when plugged into the wall with such a grounding issue? I mean, the grounding hasn’t posed any problems with my audio system yet and my surge-protected power strip does show the “Ground OK” LED on…
Mainly large voltage fluctuations in the house, for example from using the well water pump (it goes whoomp, whoomp), cause temporary light dimming across the house (slight blip, blip). Actually no other appliance does this, but it shows how the (large) voltage doesn’t get regulated properly.
I’m asking out of curiosity, I’m a long way from purchasing a regenerator as of now and when the time comes, the house will have been grounded to earth by then.
No, if I did, I think the mandated electricity policy at this year would already have had proper groundings installed in the first place when the new mains were installed (during this Gregorian millennia, anyway…) Actually I think it’s a mistake from the electrician that he did not even suggest installing grounding rods, he just left the house sharing the mains feed’s ground. Well, it’s better than nothing but I suspect there’s the case of some “backwards motion electric recoil” issue… Just a slight guess that something to that effect could take place, maybe. Directivity, I mean. The mains feed’s ground is not meant to ground something in both directions, only itself, am I wrong?
In America, we usually bond the mains ground with the main water pipe within 5’ where it enters the building and a couple of ground rods 6’ apart as secondary grounds. But the ground and neutral is always bonded together at the mains only.
We also have a lot of older houses with knob and tube wiring that do not have a ground. We just plug the equipment in with the ground floating or not connected. It works fine but it’s alway better to get the electrical system updated with a proper ground for safety among other reasons.
Aside from safety, I find lifting the ground from the system does not have any effect on the sound besides sometimes it may eliminate hum issues in a component. If you do not have noise problems, I wouldn’t bother worrying about not having a ground. What makes a difference though is the hot and neutral conductors. Have #10 wires does sound better than # 12 or #14 wires. If and when you upgrade your wiring, keep this in mind. Also having dedicated circuits for your audio system helps with sound quality.
Other than the house getting hit by lightning, or some other large energy event, it doesn’t seem that dangerous or bad to me. This assumes the neutral to ground bonding jumper is properly installed at the main panelboard. In the US, the traditional way of doing this is with a green screw.
If my house got hit by lightning, I don’t think having proper ground wires will matter much, but maybe lightning rods might. If my house is prone to lightning strikes, it would make sense to invest in installing some lightning rods on the roof. I would disconnect everything plugged in during an event also.
Apologies in advance, I don’t want to talk you into spending your money; but, $1500 is less than one expensive high end power cable. I had a dedicated 20 amp circuit installed from my main panel, 40 foot run to serve my P20. Total cost for electrician’s time, breaker, solid copper wire, alloy tubing run on base board, outletbox and PS audio outlet $900 (point here ask around for more quotes). My sound quality improved. Although results may vary. Good luck. Also I have read a few statements saying not much will survive a direct lighting strike which is different than going for clean AC.
Chas
Chas is right. $1500 is not that much for something as important as having proper ground for the house. I also am using many power cables each costing way more than $1500 apiece.
Yes, you guys are right in that 1500$ isn’t THAT much money for something as important, but it’s just not exactly cheap either.
…I personally don’t yet have any audio gear whose current market value (as in if I sold it) was above about 1300$,
Not to worry, just listen to the music and plan within your budget, the budget you know deep down that you should stay within (if you do, the music will sound better).
Chas