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pende_tim
Premium Member
join:2004-01-04
Selbyville, DE

pende_tim to jojo99

Premium Member

to jojo99

Re: [Electrical] Grounding necessary? for 30A electric water heater

Time to call the landlord and have him schedule an electrician to properly ground this heater. Chances are, but I would not bet my life on it, the metal pipes and the BX cable are providing an adequate ground. Having said that, the landlord has a responsibility to provide, at his expense, a safe environment. Hold him responsible.

Since it has metallic pipes that go through the entire house, you have possible conductors leading from the HWH to a lot of wet locations.

whizkid3
MVM
join:2002-02-21
Queens, NY

whizkid3

MVM

The 'metal pipes' do not provide a code-compliant equipment ground.

pende_tim
Premium Member
join:2004-01-04
Selbyville, DE

pende_tim

Premium Member

Correct. I think I said that? It may be accidentally grounded with the metal pipes, but the install needs a proper ground.
TheMG
Premium Member
join:2007-09-04
Canada
MikroTik RB450G
Cisco DPC3008
Cisco SPA112

TheMG to whizkid3

Premium Member

to whizkid3
said by whizkid3:

The 'metal pipes' do not provide a code-compliant equipment ground.

In fact, if dielectric unions were used (to help prevent galvanic corrosion between the copper piping and the steel tank), there would be no conductivity at all except through the water!!!!!