When purchasing household appliances, the user must take care of its safe connection in order to protect itself from electric shock, and household appliances from damage. The washing machine is often installed in the bathroom, where the risk of electric shock increases several times. How to avoid this? It is necessary to ground the washing machine.
Why ground the washing machine
Many users after buying a washer boldly plug it into the nearest outlet and do not even think about whether this is correct. Grounding the washing machine first is for your safety.
Think about it! Even machines with an installed noise suppression filter are able to pass current through the body - a power of 110 volts. And if the filter burns out or the wiring is broken, the electric shock can be 220 volts. This is a direct threat to your health, and when installed in a humid room - to life.
Moreover, if there is no grounding, the equipment itself may deteriorate. Contact of water with damaged wiring will lead to a short circuit and complete burning of the washing machine. Think about which is more profitable: find out how to properly ground the washing machine or buy new equipment. Let's understand the features of the installation of grounding with your own hands.
Grounding a washing machine in an apartment
The apartment has two options for grounding. One of them is correct and permitted. Another is also often used by ordinary people, but it is ineffective and “outlawed” today. We will talk about each of them so that you have an idea of the pros and cons of these methods. What tools will be needed:
- Pliers;
- indicator screwdriver;
- tool to strip contacts.
Attention! Unplug the machine before starting work.
The first option: grounding in old houses
This method will tell you how to ground the socket and the washing machine in the apartment, if initially there is no grounding. Immediately make a reservation that this option is suitable for residents of houses of old construction, since in new buildings all sockets are equipped according to modern standards. Working process:
- It is necessary to arrange wiring, which will go to all household appliances, including lighting in the apartment.
- To do this, it is necessary to install two buses in the electrical panel, to which the wiring will later be connected. Tires are designated as zero - N, and with grounding - PE. How to connect grounding to the shield, read on.
- A wire is drawn from the outlet into which the SMA is connected. It should consist of three veins with a copper section. Connection is carried out as shown in the photo below.
First, connect the blue neutral wire that connects to the N bus. Then connect the ground wire to the PE bus, in different cases it can be green or yellow. Now the red phase wire is connected to the RCD of the meter.
Note! It is forbidden to swap contacts.
Thus, you can protect yourself and your equipment. If you are afraid to carry out such work, then call an electrician.
Second option: grounding in the bathroom
How to install grounding on a washing machine in the bathroom, if no special contacts are provided on the shield? Use the potential equalization method. The fact is that in the bathroom there are a lot of objects that conduct electric current. To get a small electric discharge, you do not have to touch the body of the SMA - just touch the mixer. We propose to connect all objects that conduct current with metal wires - thus equalizing the potential.
Having the SMA in the bathroom, it is necessary to install moisture-proof sockets.
However, this is not enough. For a washing machine without grounding, an RCD is additionally installed. An automatic shield is also needed. In case of failures and overloads, the shield will simply knock out, which will save your equipment from damage. Of course, there were some home masters who came up with their own way to equalize. It is much cheaper, just as effective, but against safety measures and has its drawbacks. In this case, the ground wire of the washing machine is fixed to a metal pipe or battery.
Quite a dubious option, since the pipes quickly collapse under the influence of electricity. This will incur additional costs for their replacement.
Many doubt: is it possible to nullify a washing machine? This question is relevant when there is no ground wire on the shield. In this case, there is an option to connect the wire to the zero phase. However, this method is not safe. You decide which option to use in the apartment. One thing is for sure - a washing machine without grounding will sooner or later cause unpleasant situations.
Grounding cars in a private house
If it is important for you to know how to ground the washing machine in a private house, then you can do it the same way as in the apartment - follow the above methods. However, there is another option. Residents of the private sector can independently organize grounding on the street. To do this, select a free plot in the yard. It will take three metal pipes. Usually, pipes from old beds with a length of at least 1.5 meters are used for these purposes. Then do this:
- Install the pipes in the ground to a depth of at least 2 meters. The distance between them should be from one to one and a half meters.
- Installation is made so that 15 centimeters of the pipe remain sticking out above the ground. Metal plates are welded to them.
- A ground wire is connected to this design, which is welded to one of the plates.
- The other end of the wire is led to the distribution panel and connected to the PE bus (ground).
If your washer has a special bolt, you can lead the wire to it, and not to the shield. There are times when a car is shocking due to a breakdown. Therefore, before starting work, inspect the washer for damage to the wiring. Indeed, if you do not replace the damaged area, there is simply no point in carrying out the work. Grounding in any room should be organized using three-wire wires. They should be carried out from the shield to all outlets. The remaining options, although effective, are dangerous to health. If you do not understand the electrician, it is better to call a specialist at home. For those who decided to work independently, a video on the topic: