Metal Halide grounded wall socket necessary?

[lagu2653]

Hi!
My Metal Halide lamp instruction claims that it needs a grounded wall socket. I only have grounded wall sockets in the basement. What will happen if I plug it into a regular non-grounded wall socket? Is there a great chance blowing my fuse? Will the equipment be damaged if I plug it into a regular non-grounded wall socket?

Thanks in advance, Lars

 

[Anonymous]

I would do whatever the manufacturer suggests. Anything you use around water should have a grounded plug and a GFCI(Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter), even though some pumps/powerheads do not have them.

 

[Oceans Ferevh]

get a GFCI and save your life! I can't tell you how thankful I was when my tank flooded to have it

 

[Anonymous]

IMHO! Putting in a GFCI is different fromn the question that was asked!

While it is oustanding advice, the question was, if I may paraphrase, "what happens if my wall sockets are not of the three prong grounded type, will my MHs have problems?"

Sorry if I have butted in unwelcome, but I think that the question is important and the answer is equally important. Unfortunately I do not have the expertise to answer. I hope that someone else will.

If lagu2653 has wiring that does not supply a seperate ground connection putting in a GFCI is a waste of time. They need a connection to ground to work.

 

[Anonymous]

I would think they need a grounded outlet. It would be easy enought to tie it in to the basement circut.

 

[Anonymous]

Short answer:
It should be fine.
get a 2-3 prong adapter and screw the ground clip to the center screw on the recepticle plate.

Long answer.
In a perfect world, we wouldn't need ground wires. Because all of the current , when everything is going perfectly, will travel on the hot and the neutral legs of the power (the black and white wires respectivly). However, we don't live in a perfect world. So once in a while a piece of equipment shorts out, we drop a light fixture, the roommates cats chew through the extension cord to the tank, or we spill a bucket of water. That's when our good friend the ground conductor comes in. Instead of traveling though the wet floor to our feet, the current takes the path of least resistance and goes to the ground cable. It goes back to the circuit breaker box, and trips the breaker, shutting off the power, thus saving our, or the roommates cat's, life.

All metal surfaces (cases, reflectors, boxes, plates) around electrcity should be grounded. LIke your MH reflectors, your ballast box, ect, they should be grounded.

So, do you NEED a ground conductor? Not really (in fact in most residential homes, the neutral and the ground wires are tied to the same point in the breaker box.) But having it there when we mess up and short circuit the electrical socket is a real good thing. Having a GFCI will in fact save our lives quicker, but that's another story for another day.

HTH

 

[Anonymous]

Short answer:
It should be fine.
get a 2-3 prong adapter and screw the ground clip to the center screw on the recepticle plate.

Long answer.
In a perfect world, we wouldn't need ground wires. Because all of the current , when everything is going perfectly, will travel on the hot and the neutral legs of the power (the black and white wires respectivly). However, we don't live in a perfect world. So once in a while a piece of equipment shorts out, we drop a light fixture, the roommates cats chew through the extension cord to the tank, or we spill a bucket of water. That's when our good friend the ground conductor comes in. Instead of traveling though the wet floor to our feet, the current takes the path of least resistance and goes to the ground cable. It goes back to the circuit breaker box, and trips the breaker, shutting off the power, thus saving our, or the roommates cat's, life.

All metal surfaces (cases, reflectors, boxes, plates) around electrcity should be grounded. LIke your MH reflectors, your ballast box, ect, they should be grounded.

So, do you NEED a ground conductor? Not really (in fact in most residential homes, the neutral and the ground wires are tied to the same point in the breaker box.) But having it there when we mess up and short circuit the electrical socket is a real good thing. Having a GFCI will in fact save our lives quicker, but that's another story for another day.

HTH

My two cents is that What Bingo said!