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Grounded... SHOCKING!

3K views 21 replies 14 participants last post by  TopamaxSurvivor 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I have been wondering about something. I am in the middle of making some STEAMPUNK LAMPS. They are all iron pipe. From what I have read "ANYTHING for outdoor use or anything made out of metal should be grounded."

Okay that's fine… BUT I have played hell finding 18-16 gauge 3 wire or LAMP WIRE with a ground. Certainly not at lowes. Menards or Home Cheapo. They look at me like my head spilt open and a UFO flew out asking for lamp wire with a ground….

I have found some specialty online sites that do have VINTAGE 3 wire.

Also why is it that almost all residential electrical building codes require than all outlets and, everything for that matter, be grounded. My TV isn't grounded. My computers and peripherals are not grounded. My power tools are not grounded except for the stationary ones.

What's the point of grounding every outlet if none of the stuff your going to plug into them are not grounded.

I feel anything I make and sell, specially ANYthing with power, BE GROUNDED. And planned on doing that, but its not easy to obtain sundry items to-wit
 
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#8 · (Edited by Moderator)
I just went through about the same thing. The only extension cords that you seem to be able to buy with a Ground are the Big Long Ones for plugging other power tools into.

By accident I walked a little further down that isle. There sat exactly what I wanted. (Home Depot, Canada)

"Power Tool Repair Cords" (With Ground Line) in various lengths. I bought a nine footer but I think they went up to twelve feet. Not sure what the Gauge is, right now. But if it handles Power tools it should be okay for Lamp Cord.
 
#9 ·
Big Orange and I think Lowes sells a black three wire cable with a black sheath. I use it for all of my lighting. I wire up the white and black sub wires to the socket and plug. The green I wire to the ground on the plug and using a metal screw, attach the free end to the metal light housing / body. That's really it for grounding in many cases. I'd check with an electrician if you're not sure on what to do or use. Also, lighting stores are a very good source of info.
 
#10 ·
A lot of stuff doesn't have a ground wire, but does use polarized plugs, which provide some (but not all) of the same measure of protection. That's why there is a wide and a narrow prong on the plugs. For it to be effective, the black and white wires have to be connected to the correct terminals. Also, some light power tools are "double insulated," which is supposed to protect as well.

But I do remember a time when nothing was grounded, power tools, etc.
 
#11 ·
Rich:
Just as a sidenote, if you sell electrical items such as lamps, wood, pipe, whatever, you are liable for the safety of this product, cradle to grave. That is why a lot of galleries and such will not handle them unless you get UL approval, a very long and expensive process.

My local gallery/museum where I show my stuff told a lamp maker to pull his wares when they discovered they were selling non-UL approved lamps to the retail public. They also were open to lawsuits, should the lamp fail and pass electricity through a person.
Grounded or not, they just didn't want to take the chance.
 
#12 ·
When I was a kid in the late 50's, the push was on to ground everything. My father diligently grounded his ancient Craftsman table saw, and then-whammo-the B&D drill with the metal housing, the Wen jigsaw with a aluminum housing, and other metallic power tools were suddenly lethal if you touched them and the table saw at the same time. Growing pains.. it had to be all ONE way, or the other, all grounded, or all NOT grounded.
 
#15 ·
Cool lamps. The need for the ground is to protect you. Does it have to be there to run, no. However, in the event of a short, you want that path to ground other than yourself. It will go to ground, and if it goes through you, it will not be a good day. Lamps, if insulated will not have the third plug requirement. Same is true for your tools that only have the two plug outlet. You may hear the term double-insulated. They engineer it to prevent the electrical source coming into contact with any metal you may come into contact with. If the sockets in your project are double insulated then you don't need to ground.
 
#16 ·
Almost all lamp cord is 2 conductor.

Anything that doesn't have a ground on the plug is either double insulated or has no exposed metal parts that need grounding. Why lamps arent grounded I have no idea. Light fixtures are grounded. Don't know what the difference is.

Tool cord or SJO cord is what you need. Same thing pretty much.
 
#18 ·
My local gallery/museum where I show my stuff told a lamp maker to pull his wares when they discovered they were selling non-UL approved lamps to the retail public. They also were open to lawsuits, should the lamp fail and pass electricity through a person.
Grounded or not, they just didn t want to take the chance.

- Tennessee
I wondered when some one would pick up on the UL listing/liability issue. Insurance companies and attorneys go after anyone involved (responsible & guilty or not) with pockets deep enough to pay.
 
#19 ·
I wonder how hard (or expensive) it is to get UL approval. Frankly, seeing some of the shoddy crap (I'm talking about electrical stuff like lamps, switches, etc.) that they certify, I'm not very impressed when I see the UL sticker.

Maybe if you used a lamp cord and socket with UL approval, that would suffice.
 
#20 ·
I wonder how hard (or expensive) it is to get UL approval. Frankly, seeing some of the shoddy crap (I m talking about electrical stuff like lamps, switches, etc.) that they certify, I m not very impressed when I see the UL sticker.

Maybe if you used a lamp cord and socket with UL approval, that would suffice.

- runswithscissors
Very deep pockets and a person with a UL assembly approval license. That may not be the precise name of it. As a general rule, items assembled with UL parts must be approved as an assembly.

Yes, there are a lot of poorly built items on the market. IMO, most panels and breakers should be required to operate like Square D and Cutler Hammer.

I remember one job where the contractor supplied industrial control transformers for Class II wiring. It is illegal to for us use an changeable fuse to meet the current limiting requirements. They called in UL. They approved using use an changeable fuse to correct the problem. It was a fairly large commercial building. I was told it cost 10 or 20 K for the approval. I was doing unrelated work on site and ask the engineer on the job how they got that past the electrical inspectors? That is the story I got ;-) That was in the mid 90s. I'm sure there has been inflation on such approvals ;-)
 
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