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We're installing a wood stove tomorrow. It says in the instruction (mobile home) "and be sure the unit is
permanently electrically grounded to the chassis of your home." That's the only reference to it. Not how to do it or where to hook up the ground wire. I've heard this before, but now can't seem to find it online. Any ideas????
If it is a manufactured home, the girders under it are generally grounded (or "bonded") to the ground at the main electrical entrance.
The concept is to have an easy path for electricity to flow to a SINGLE common point ground through fairly large wires (#10 or larger). If, for example, lightning were to hit the chimney of the stove, it could then go through the stovepipe, through the stove to the ground wire, and then relatively safely to ground. If the stove metal was to come in contact with the exposed "hot" wire from an electric fan or some such, the "hot" would immediately find a ground path and trip the circuit breaker to the fan. Otherwise, lightning would seek other paths from the stove - through nearby pets and people, electrical circuits or plumbing.
On a related note, a problem with masonry chimneys is that a lightning strike on them can turn the moisture in the masonry to steam, break the masonry open, and allow gasses and fire to escape into an attic. A lightning rod or ground wire can minimize this problem.
Yes, with qualifications. I would NOT run a wire through a vent hole. Lightning is strange. Any wire that hopes to properly divert a lightning strike has to have NO sharp bends in it. If your vent pipe is aluminized, it is quite possible it could jump from the wire to the pipe and then the air handler, making a bit of slag out of your AC compressor. Also, verify though that when the home was placed that there was a ground wire run from the frame to the ground rod at the electrical entrance. Otherwise the lightning might track back into the main breaker box.
Running a bonding line from the ground rod to the frame is pretty simple, if it hasn't been done already. Go to the electric dept of a Big box home store and have someone assist you with the parts and wire you need.
The best grounding would be to run a #10 copper wire from the woodstove - sand the paint off in an area around the base of the woodstove (where the wire will touch the metal), drill a hole, and bolt the wire on. Or attach it to an existing screw. DO NOT drill a hole into the firebox!...
Then OK to run that through the hole in your floor. Then run the ground wire all the way to your main electrical service and clamp it onto an existing ground wire there. This is where your main electrical service is grounded and frequently cable TV and phone.
It is important to ground it there because... One reason for grounding metal objects in a home is in the rare case (actually not so rare) an electrical wire comes in contact with the chimney or the metal of the woodstove. A windstorm could blow a live electrical wire into the chimney. Or an extention cord could be draped over the woodstove, the insulation melt, then the metal of the woodstove would be energized.
The grounding would cause a circuit breaker to trip or fuses to blow. With just connecting it to the frame of a home, a breaker might not trip.
Anyway a child or animal (or adult) could touch the woodstove and be electrocuited in these situations. This has happened in the past with other metal objects around a home. Air conditioning ducts, water faucets, metal garage doors, etc.
Grounding metal objects in a home is a "higher level" of electrical safety. A "just in case" thing.
Ok. I'll talk to the guy that is helping install today. The vent hole is the vent from the wood stove. I just meant since we have to make a hole in the floor for that, could we run the ground wire along side, but guess that might not be a good idea.
The grounding would cause a circuit breaker to trip or fuses to blow. With just connecting it to the frame of a home, a breaker might not trip.
bonding to the frame is perfectly acceptable.
the frame itself is bonded to the service. If you look underneath the panel of any mobile home (below the floor), you'll find #4 copper wire bolted to the frame.
There are clamps made specifically for this. They have a bolt that squeezes the clamp to the frame, and a lug attached for your bonding wire.
Why is this only necessary in Mobile Homes?
BTW....stove went in today. Will do the venting and grounding in the morning.
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