FAQs - Frequently asked questions regarding personal electrical grounding

FAQs - Frequently asked questions regarding personal grounding

Q. Can I ground myself to a home electrical outlet ground or to a water pipe?

A. No! Personal ground systems must be connected directly to the earth. All home electrical ground systems and water systems to which they are bonded carry measurable induced voltage from adjacent hot wires. In reference to earth, induced voltage measured on water systems and electrical ground systems averages 400+ millivolts AC. Further, these ground systems also conduct transient fields from the grid and associated home electrical systems and appliances.

Q. At work I wear a grounded ESD bracelet. Does that produce the same grounding effect?

A. Conventional ESD bracelets are primarily used for dissipating static electricity created on a person’s body (from clothing and synthetic materials) to prevent damage to sensitive electronic components. During preliminary investigation, we tested these products for use in our studies and found the 1 Meg resistor, built into existing ESD ground cords, prevents 60 Hz electric field induced body voltage from dropping below 300-400 millivolts AC. In our studies we found the most beneficial health results of grounding were achieved at levels below 10 millivolts. We could only reduce AC induced body voltage below that level with the use of a 10 mA fuse.

[To measure 60 Hz electric field induced body voltage, place a ground rod in the earth and run a ground wire into bedroom, connect to voltmeter set on AC. Lie down on bed, make skin contact with positive lead (at any point on body, EKG electrode patch can be used for skin contact.]), reading will display 60 Hz electric field induced body voltage. To measure effects of grounding body with a conventional ESD bracelet, run a second ground wire from the earth and connect it to the ESD bracelet coil cord and place bracelet on arm. Lie down in same location and re-measure body voltage. Reading will show that 1 Meg resistor holds induced voltage on the body. Remove bracelet/coil cord and ground body directly, induced body voltage will measurably drop to near zero in reference to the earth.]

Q. What about protection from an electrical event?

A. In the medical and electro-static discharge (ESD) industries, there are well-established guidelines for personal grounding safety. Those guidelines, used for protection from an electrical event, are incorporated into the devices used in the above studies. The electrode patch and conductive mattress pad ground systems contain inline UL approved 10 mA fuses. The conductive wire used in ground systems is a 10-strand tinsel RFI configuration with an aggregate 20-gauge surface rating. The grounded conductive top fabric of the bed pads is constructed using dissipative carbon fibers with a 1x10 ⁵ surface resistance. This means the conductive carbon fibers dissipate charge at a rate of approx. 2.5 mA, or less, which is 4 x lower then fuse rating.