MikeO5422

I am having issues with wiring in my house. I really dont know much about electricity but i am told my house is grounded improperly. I believe this has broken many of my equipment including two power supplies, a monitor, and a graphics card (fried). I also recently found out that my "surge protectors" are literally just about worthless. Should i invest in a proper surge protector or should i invest in a actual UPS? Here is a surge protector im looking at ;p

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817106223

Any recommendations?

Jebtall

If your house has improper grounding you have bigger problems than trying to get a good ups or surge protector for your computer.

Improper grounding is a safety hazard and can lead to many potentially dangerous situations. Most protection devices (gfi's, grounded cases etc.) rely on a good ground, without it, they are of limited effectiveness.

You should skip the ups for now and get an electrician to look into the problem. After it is corrected, then worry about an ups.

linderman

very good advice from above

its not expsensive to correct the grounding at your electrical panel box / if the poor grounding is the result of wiring thats another story $$$

what you need is a power conditioner

http://cgi.ebay.com/PowerVar-2-0-Pow...QQcmdZViewItem

MikeO5422

i purchased a outlet tester and it seems that everything is ok. Maybe i just have really bad luck ^^. But im going to go ahead and get a nice surge protector now that i know the outlets are setup properly.

mattlock

Did you use a 3 prong outlet tester like this one?

http://www.globaltestsupply.com/test...et_Tester_.cfm

If so they are easily fooled into thinking the outlet is properly grounded. It's known as "bootlegging" and is easily done by unscrupulous sparkies that want to pass an inspection without actually running a proper ground to a 3 prong outlet.

Another possibility, your outlets could be properly wired (grounded and polarized properly) but the breaker panel might not be properly grounded. The Neutral is the grounded side of an AC circuit, therefore in the panel the Neutral and Ground are connected to the same ground bar. So the tester would show the outlet as properly grounded even if the panel is not properly grounded.

For an electrical panel to be properly grounded it must be connected to an 8' long ground rod that is driven into the earth. In some older homes the ground was achieved by going directly to the cold water pipe. New code says there has to be both a ground rod and cold water ground and the water meter has to be bonded ( a ground wire connecting the the inlet/outlet water pipe thus bypassing the water meter)

If you think your panel isn't properly grounded, you should have it checked out by a professional.

linderman

Mattlock is 100% correct; a simple look into the panel box will reveal if your neutrals and grounds are shared (on the same termination bar) which is a very undesirable and not hard to correct.

any electrican can easily seperate the neutrals from the ground and install a proper ground rod.

mattlock

By NEC standards, neutrals and grounds can share the same bar in the Main Panel, as long as the panel is properly bonded.

Sub panels existing in the same structure must have independent ground and neutral bars and cannot be bonded.

MikeO5422

darn hehe. Ill have to get an electrician in here. Thanks for the info guys I really appreciate it.

sobeit

however to answer your other question, get that ups. Surge protectors are only good for minor surges, while ups will protect your computer from damages associated with power outages.