ELECTRICAL SAFETY

&
EARTHING ESSENTIALS
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Concept of Earthing Systems

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Electrical Safety and Grounding Essentials
What is Grounding
Or
Earthing?

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What Is Earthing ?
The process of connecting metallic bodies of all the
electrical apparatus and equipment to huge mass of
earth by a wire having negligible resistance is called
Earthing.
Objectives Of Earthing

 Provide an alternative path for the fault current to

flow so that it will not endanger the user
 Ensure that all exposed conductive parts do not reach
a dangerous potential
 Maintain the voltage at any part of an electrical
system at a known value so as to prevent over current
or excessive voltage on the appliances or equipment.
Good Earthing Means
Good Earthing must have low impedance enough to
ensure that sufficient current can flow through the safety
device so that it disconnects  the supply ( <0.4 sec ). 
Fault current is much more than the full load current of the
circuit which melts the fuse.
Hence, the appliance is disconnected automatically from
the supply mains.
Qualities Of Good Earthing

 Must be of low electrical resistance

 Must be of good corrosion resistance
 Must be able to dissipate high fault current
repeatedly
Purpose of Earthing

(1)  Safety for Human life/ Building/Equipments:

(2)  Over voltage protection:

(3)  Voltage stabilization:
ELECTRIC SHOCK
Methods of Earthing
 Conventional Earthing
 Maintenance Free Earthing
Conventional Earthing

 The Conventional system of Earthing calls for

digging of a large pit into which a GI pipe or a
copper plate is positioned in the middle layers of
charcoal and salt.
 It requires maintenance and pouring of water at
regular interval.     
Maintenance Free Earthing
 It is a new type of earthing system which is Readymade, standardized and
scientifically developed.
Its Benefits are
 MAINTENANCE FREE: No need to pour water at regular interval- except
in sandy soil.
 CONSISTENCY: Maintain stable and consistent earth resistance around
the year.
 MORE SURFACE AREA: The conductive compound creates a conductive
zone, which provides the increased surface area for peak current
dissipation. And also get stable reference point.
 LOW EARTH RESISTANCE: Highly conductive. Carries high peak
current repeatedly.
 NO CORROSION:
 LONG LIFE.
 EASY INSTALLATION.
Methods of Conventional Earthing
1. Plate Earthing
2. Pipe Earthing
3. Rod Earthing
4. Strip Earthing
5. Earthing through Water Mains
Earthing Electrode
The resistance of a ground electrode has 3 basic components:
A) The resistance of the ground electrode itself and the connections
to the electrode.
B) The contact resistance of the surrounding earth to the electrode.
C) The resistance of the surrounding body of earth around the ground
Electrode. It consist of three basic components:
1. Earth Wire
2. Connector
3. Electrode
Plate Earthing
 Generally for plate type earthing normal Practice is to use
 Cast iron plate of size 600 mm x600 mm x12 mm. OR
 Galvanized iron plate of size 600 mm x600 mm x6 mm. OR
 Copper plate of size 600 mm * 600 mm * 3.15 mm
 Plate  burred at the depth of 8 feet in the vertical position and
GI strip of size 50 mmx6 mm bolted with the plate is brought
up to the ground level.
 These types of earth pit are generally filled with alternate layer
of charcoal & salt up to 4 feet from the bottom of the pit.
 For proper earthing system, follow the above mentioned steps
in the (Earth Plate introduction) to maintain the moisture
condition around the earth electrode or earth plate.
Pipe earthing
 Pipe earthing is best form of earthing and it is cheap also in this system of
earthing a GI pipe of [C-class] of 75 mm diameter, 10 feet long welded with 75
mm diameter GI flange having 6 numbers of holes for the connection of earth
wires and inserted in ground by auger method to work as earth electrode but the
depth depend upon the soil conditions, there is no hard and fast rule for this.
 But the wire is embedded upto the wet soil.
 The earth wire are fastened to the top section of the pipe with nut and bolts.
 These types of earth pit are generally filled with alternate layer of charcoal &
salt or earth reactivation compound for improving the soil conditions and
efficiency of the earthing system.
 It can take heavy leakage current for the same electrode size in comparison to
plate earthing.
 The earth wire connection with GI pipes being above the ground level can be
checked for carrying out continuity test as and when desired, while in plate
earthing it is difficult.
 In summer season to have an effective earthing three or four bucket of water is
put through the funnel for better continuity of earthing.
ROD EARTHING
 In this system of earthing 12.5mm diameter solid rods of
copper 16mm diameter solid rod of GI or steel or hollow
section of 25mm GI pipe of length not less than 3 meters
are driven vertically into the earth
 In order to increase the embedded length of electrode under
the ground, which is some time necessary to reduce the
earth resistance to desired value more than one rod section
are hammered one above the other.
 This system of earthing is suitable for area which are sandy
in character .
 This system of earthing is very cheap
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STRIP OR WIRE EARTHING
 In this system of earthing strip electrode of cross section not less than
25mm into 1.6mm of copper or 25mm * 4mm of GI or steel are buried
in horizontal trenches of minimum depth of 0.5m
 If round conductor are used their cross sectional area shall not be
smaller than three if copper is used and 6mm2 if GI or steel is used.
 The length of buried conductor shall be sufficient to give the required
earth resistance (about 0.5Ωto 1.5Ω)
 It shall however be not less than 15 m
 The electrode shall be as widely distributed as possible in a single
straight or circular trenches radiating from a point
 This type of earthing is used in rockey soil earth bed because at such
places excavation work for plate earthing is difficult
Earthing through the Waterman

In this method of earthing, the waterman (Galvanized GI) pipes

are used for earthing purpose. Make sure to check the resistance
of GI pipes and use earthing clamps to minimize the resistance
for proper earthing connection.
If stranded conductor is used as earth wire, then clean the end of
the strands of the wire and make sure it is in the straight and
parallel position which is possible then to connect tightly to the
waterman pipe.

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A safe grounding design has two objectives:
1. To provide means to carry electric currents into the
earth under normal and fault conditions without
exceeding any operating and equipment limits or
adversely affecting continuity of service.
2. To assure that a person in the vicinity of grounded
facilities is not exposed to the danger of critical
electric shock.
Measurement of Earth Resistance by use of Earth
Tester

For measuring soil resistivity Earth Tester is used.

It is also called the “MEGGER”.

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Recommended values of earth resistance

Recommended earth system

resistance(ohm)

0.5-1 Light current

5 Low voltage
2.5 Medium voltage
0.5 High voltage
Max. Value of Earth Resistance to be achieved
Equipment to be Earthed Max. Value of Earth
Resistance to be achieved
in Ohms
Large Power Stations 0.5
Major Substations 1.0
Small Substations 2.0
Factories Substations 1.0
Lattice Steel Tower 3.0
Industrial Machine and 0.5
Equipment

* The Earth Resistance depends upon the moisture content in the soil.
Factors affecting on Earth resistivity:
1. Soil Resistivity 
2. Soil Condition
3. Moisture
4. Dissolved salts
5. Climate Condition
6. Physical Composition
7. Location of Earth Pit
8. Effect of grain size and its distribution
9. Effect of current magnitude
10. Area Available
11. Obstructions
12. Current Magnitude

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 METHODS OF DECREASING GROUND
RESISTANCE

 Decreasing the ground resistance of a grounding system in

high resistivity soil is often a formidable task.
The PRIMARY goal of the grounding
system throughout any facilities is
SAFETY.
Why ground at all?
PERSONNEL SAFETY FIRST
EQUIPMENT PROTECTION SECOND
THANK YOU