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Re: Ground current
Generally, its not a good idea to interconnect the service neutral and
'earth ground' anywhere but at the building's service entrance. If you do,
you'll see the effect you're seeing, which is the normal current in the
neutral splitting between the neutral wire and your ground system. If you
turn on (or off) some fairly heavy 120V load, you should see a change in
the current in your ground lead.
I'm not sure what normal practice among coilers is but I would think that
(assuming that your pig is running off the 240V line) you should not
connect the neutral to the pig at all. You might also want to disconnect
the pig's neutral from the case as well, leaving just the case connected to
your earth ground.
- MIke
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> From: Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
> To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> Subject: Ground current
> Date: Thursday, October 01, 1998 6:56 PM
>
> Original Poster: "Paul Marshall" <klugmann-at-hotmail-dot-com>
>
> I have a question about ground current. I have 25 KVA pig, line neutral
> is connected to the case and the case is connected to ground. Last night
> I pulled out my handy meter and checked for current to ground. I found
> that I had a 3 amp current in the ground lead. I turned off the power to
> the pig and checked again, 3 amps ! I turned off the power at the mains
> still 3 amps. Next I checked to see what the voltage was. It wasn't
> measurable < 1 volt. Can anyone tell me what is going on ? Also there is
> no sign of a spark between the ground lead and the ground terminal.
>
> paul m
>
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