How to check grounding in 1 minute

I will tell you how to quickly, simply and effectively check the presence and quality of your grounding in just less than a minute. I would like to immediately make a reservation and clarify that this verification method is artisanal and is prohibited by all manuals and rules on electrical safety. But still, the method exists and lives well among experienced and experienced electricians. I personally use it myself, which is why I’m showing it to you. Again, I want to disclaim responsibility and say that if you repeat it, then everything is at your own peril and risk.
You probably immediately have a question: why use such a method if it is prohibited and even dangerous? In general, grounding is checked with a special device, but due to its absence, electricians often use it for quick checks and controls.

Will need

To check, we need a regular incandescent light bulb of 230 V and 60-100 W, in a socket, with the wires exposed at the end.

I tied the wires to the plug and insulated everything with electrical tape. In common parlance, a light bulb with exposed wires exposed is called a “control”.

Checking for grounding in the outlet

So let's get started. First, let's check the operation of the lamp. We insert both bare wires into the socket.

Approximately, by eye, we remember the brightness of the glow.
Then we pull out one wire and switch it to the ground contacts. If the lamp does not light up, it means you may have made a mistake and pulled out the phase wire, but you need the neutral wire. As a result, the lamp must be connected between the ground contact and the phase.

If the grounding works properly and efficiently, then the light bulb will shine with absolutely the same brightness as between zero and phase.
That's all.
When connecting, be especially careful and attentive, do not touch the exposed contacts while checking!
This is how I check the grounding in my house. I don't have an RCD in the system. In your case, if it is present, it may work, as there will be a leak to the ground. There is nothing wrong with this, it is also a good indicator of the protection’s performance.

Watch the video

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Comments (42)

#1 Guest Alexander Guests 27 January 2019 14:01
4

Will it work like this with an isolated neutral of the transformer??
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1. #2 Guest Sergey Guests 28 January 2019 22:13
  3
  
  What are you speaking about..."household" electricians have no idea about systems with an isolated neutral...they will immediately be stupefied. There are even isolation transformers for electricity transfer on sale. supply from a solidly grounded neutral to an isolated...
  
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#3 Guest Vadim Guests 27 January 2019 15:47
9

And if this is not a ground contact, but a working zero is connected? That is, somewhere there is a jumper between the ground and the working zero
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1. #4 Roman Serov Guests 27 January 2019 22:53
  4
  
  If it’s in the switchboard, then... Anyway, in new houses, the “earth” comes from the working zero of the substation, divided in the switchboard of the house. The main thing is that there is no null-ground jumper immediately in the socket. Only on your own site you can make a separate land and there will be a TT connection type. In houses, most go TN-C-S
  
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#5 Sector Guests 27 January 2019 16:31
7

In our houses, there are TWO wires going to the outlet. What kind of grounding is the author talking about? And yes, everyone has Euro sockets, but there is no land on them and there is nothing to check there.
Only sockets for kitchen electric stoves are equipped with grounding. Although supernew houses may have grounding, I don’t know. But the author is clearly not talking about these houses.
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1. #6 Guest Vadim Guests 27 January 2019 16:43
  7
  
  If you don’t have grounding, then what are you going to check then? Don't fool yourself.
  
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2. #7 Guest Nikolay Guests 3 March 2019 13:58
  0
  
  Gas boilers all have a ground wire. The operation of the electronic board requires its presence, otherwise nothing will work.
  
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#8 Guest Mikhail Guests 27 January 2019 19:04
4

I checked the grounding during repairs by disconnecting the neutral wire in the panel. It's reliable! And not with a light bulb, but with a multimeter - it’s safer.
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#9 Guest Alex Guests 27 January 2019 21:38
3

What the figb written by the author? If there is an RCD, it will immediately knock it out of me. MI, by the way, in vain people say that there is no grounding in houses. Personally, in my house it (grounding) works quite clearly.
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1. #10 Sector Guests 28 January 2019 17:04
  2
  
  You probably have a private house and you did the grounding yourself. In apartment buildings there is none at all. Available only in sockets for stationary electric stoves and that’s all. All other sockets have only TWO wires. Phase and zero.
  
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  1. #11 Guest Mikhail Guests January 29, 2019 09:55
    2
    
    There is normal grounding, I checked it. An ordinary Moscow 16-story building after major repairs of risers and replacement of wires with copper.
    
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    1. #12 Sector Guests 2 February 2019 15:56
      0
      
      In Moscow, they may be building houses with grounding. But in other regions where I have been, there is two-wire wiring throughout the apartment.
      
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    2. #13 Guest Konstantin Guests 16 July 2020 08:29
      2
      
      Is it really possible that during a major overhaul of a high-rise building in Moscow, the end consumers were given new wiring throughout the apartment, and all repairs were broken in order to provide all sockets with a three-wire grounding? )))) nonsense. Maybe there is a grounding in the riser, but where does it come from in the apartment?
      
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2. #14 Eugene Guests 29 January 2019 18:00
  0
  
  if you don’t know where there is grounding and where it is not, for example in TNC, then there is no need to talk about this topic :)
  
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#15 Guest Alexander Guests January 28, 2019 04:33
5

Why not use a voltmeter for this, instead of a light bulb? Then there will be no need to remember the brightness. I measured the potential difference between phase and zero, and then compared it between phase and ground. And I agree with those who argue that there is no point in this check.In our houses, the electrical wiring is made in such a way that the grounding conductor and the neutral conductor are combined. Thus, you can only check that there is no break in the ground wire with a neutral wire in your socket.
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1. #16 Alexander. Guests January 28, 2019 11:11
  1
  
  The grounding resistance is standardized, I don’t remember the exact value, but it is in units of ohms, like 4. In this case, the voltage drop will be small on the “ground” line. The voltmeter has a large value. You can measure the voltage in the socket in phase with a multimeter by taking its other probe in your hand. Its internal resistance of about 10 megohms will prevent you from receiving an electric shock. Although you are, say, clearly not suitable as grounding for a washing machine. In the case described by the author, the light bulb will light up only if the grounding resistance is low. Instruments for measuring it are more reliable. But they are expensive, and their purchase is unlikely to be advisable for non-specialists.
  
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2. #17 Guest Alexander Guests January 28, 2019 11:19
  0
  
  When large currents flow on the neutral wire, due to the voltage drop, it is not equal to zero, and sometimes reaches tens of volts. For example, your device consumes 20 amperes, the resistance of the neutral wire is only 1 ohm. At zero there will be 20 volts in the outlet. If the grounding wire is connected to a good zero in the panel, then this will be the difference at the zero in the socket and on the grounding wire. And ouzo... Of course, it will work with the test described by the author in milliseconds. That's why they are installed.
  
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3. #18 Sector Guests 28 January 2019 17:06
  2
  
  He's an old electrician. When he started working, there were no voltmeters yet and he never managed to learn how to use them.
  
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#19 promises Guests 28 January 2019 06:20
4

What if the grounding is stupidly connected to zero? In this case, this method is useless
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1. #20 Energeteg Guests January 28, 2019 09:08
  0
  
  Have you heard about a deaf, very deafly grounded neutral in a transformer room, for example?
  
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#21 Guest Alexander Guests January 28, 2019 06:47
1

When you check this, the RAM works.
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#22 Energetik Guests January 28, 2019 09:28
7

Let it be clear to you, Afta, that grounding and protective zero are different concepts. The protective functions are similar; lightning protection can also be added here. But do not confuse planet Earth with a protective zero. You, such and such, do you even understand the device of an ASU, for example? With TP there are four conductors, three phases and zero solidly grounded. Do you want to get a five-wire?
/I deliberately do not torment you with foreign letters about TN in all its manifestations/
So here it is for bloggers of advanced earthen moles who are somewhat blind. Straight from the ASU, they divide zero into two with a wide shredder. This cannot be divided by zero from the bursa course, but it can be divided in electrical engineering. From the ASU there are already five veins growing and it brings us good, because there are two zeros, a working N and protection-mother-native-from-cases-of-wires-with-current-not-shaking PE. Not the earth.
PUE, brother, strange colleague, PUE, edition 7. Read at night, puts you to sleep after the second page reliably. But even that is postponed.
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1. #23 Guest Vlad Guests January 31, 2019 10:31
  3
  
  How many idiots are there in the world, even with experience))) Where in the ASU is the zero wide tire divided by 2? Woodpecker, you indoor one. In the ASU, there are 2 zero buses in the shield, connected by a jumper. One of them is a working zero, the second is a protective zero. In addition, the protective zero is connected to the GZSh bus (main grounding bus). What else is connected to the GZSh? The general potential equalization system of a BUILDING, which includes the building’s grounding loop, metal parts of frames, pipes, lightning protection, etc. Learn the materiel, woodpecker, and the PUE will help you, edition 7, chapter 7.
  
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#24 Boris Guests January 28, 2019 09:54
0

With this method, not only the RCD of the apartment will be switched off, but also the RCD standing at the entrance phase.
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1. #25 Rinat Guests January 29, 2019 10:27
  1
  
  Selectivity, right?
  An RCD with a shutdown delay must be installed at the entrance.
  
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2. #26 Guest Vlad Guests January 31, 2019 10:33
  0
  
  Does this mean that the selectivity of the RCD is not selected correctly; during a short circuit in the apartment, it also knocks out the entire entrance? This is why there is selectivity between Automatic Devices and RCDs.
  
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