Earthing alternatives for PC

[RajTheGeek]

Hi there,

I'm building a new PC but at the moment there's not earthing at my place and won't be possible for few days. So I'm finding to have any alternatives for earthing. Will a surge protector help me protect my PC for temporary basis? Like this: https://www.belkin.com/in/p/P-F9E400-1.5M/ 

Or is there any other option? I'm using Corsair CX550 psu for my PC will it help me provide a bit protection? 

Let me know your suggestions.

Thanks.

[Guest]

You mean ground?

 

You dont have a ground plug in your outlets? Been pretty standard feature in homes for quite a long time now...

[RajTheGeek]

1 minute ago, ShrimpBrime said:

You mean ground?

 

You dont have a ground plug in your outlets? Been pretty standard feature in homes for quite a long time now...

Yes grounding. IF I temporarily don't have grounding will it affect to my PC anyhow?

[explosivetnt]

Well, at my house there really isn't a standard grounding, but it hasn't really caused any problems, as from my understanding, ground is more of a last ditch save, when everything is already going south.

[TetraSky]

Do you have any sort of heater near the PC. Be it a baseboard heater that's powered by electricity or has water flow through it after getting heated by a furnace elsewhere in the house??

Typically, those baseboards are required to have ground. (the electric one)

 

As such, what you could do is either buy or reuse an old cable you have around, connect it to the ground pin of your outlet (if it's a 2pin outlet, go out and buy a 3pin outlet) and then connect the cable to it. Once that's done, connect the other end of the cable to the ground of the baseboard heater (open it up). If it's a water heater, wrap the bare portion of the wire around a bare part of a pipe.

 

This is extremely jank, and honestly I don't recommend it, but it "technically" works and is better than nothing at all until you get an electrician to come change everything.

(I've done it in the past and it worked for me)

[Guest]

Very Janky lol. But not a bad idea.

[RajTheGeek]

1 minute ago, TetraSky said:

Do you have any sort of heater near the PC. Be it a baseboard heater or a water heater ?

Typically, those are required to have ground.

As such, what you could do is either buy or reuse an old cable you have around, connect it to the ground pin of your outlet (if it's a 2pin outlet, go out and buy a 3pin outlet) and then connect the cable to it. Once that's done, connect the other end of the cable to the ground of the baseboard heater (open it up). If it's a water heater, wrap the bare portion of the wire around a bare part of a pipe.

 

This is extremely jank, but it "technically" works and is better than nothing at all until you get an electrician to come change everything.

No I don't have any heater near PC. 

[RajTheGeek]

Will a surge protector or Spike help me with this?

[TetraSky]

3 minutes ago, RajTheGeek said:

No I don't have any heater near PC. 

Well, RIP. Call an electrician then and have them install a proper outlet for you. Or ask your landlord if this isn't your house.

 

3 minutes ago, RajTheGeek said:

Will a surge protector or Spike help me with this?

Considering they'd rely on the ground pin to offset any sort of spike from your power grid, no. But it might save your stuff by blowing their build-in fuse.

[RajTheGeek]

Just now, TetraSky said:

Well, RIP. Call an electrician then and have them install a proper outlet for you.

 

Considering they'd rely on the ground pin to offset any sort of spike from your power grid, no. But it might save your stuff by blowing their build-in fuse.

So should I wait to get earthing/grounding or its okay to use PC for now?

[explosivetnt]

As far as I know, it's probably fine

[BobVonBob]

2 minutes ago, RajTheGeek said:

Will a surge protector or Spike help me with this?

Surge protectors just take the ground from the outlet and pass it through. It can't create a ground where there is none.

 

Technically you don't need a ground to run the PC, but I'd really suggest waiting until your house is properly wired before using it. Ground doesn't just help prevent damage from from short circuits, it also helps dissipate static, which will build up quickly in an ungrounded PC and definitely has the potential to blow something up.

[dfsgsfa]

4 minutes ago, RajTheGeek said:

Will a surge protector or Spike help me with this?

this is not how earthing / ground wire works

the earth wire ( top end of your plug) is connected to outer case of psu

it ONLY WORKS if there is power leakage to psu

so earthing redirects away the electic on behalf of you

[TetraSky]

3 minutes ago, RajTheGeek said:

So should I wait to get earthing/grounding or its okay to use PC for now?

If it's just a few days, probably safe. 

Unless you experience brownouts often (lights dimming a bit) anyway.

[RajTheGeek]

25 minutes ago, BobVonBob said:

Surge protectors just take the ground from the outlet and pass it through. It can't create a ground where there is none.

 

Technically you don't need a ground to run the PC, but I'd really suggest waiting until your house is properly wired before using it. Ground doesn't just help prevent damage from from short circuits, it also helps dissipate static, which will build up quickly in an ungrounded PC and definitely has the potential to blow something up.

So I can buld a PC and start using it right away? The grounding won't happen for like a week to 10 days due to bad weather. 

[Perlauch]

3 hours ago, RajTheGeek said:

Yes grounding. IF I temporarily don't have grounding will it affect to my PC anyhow?

No not at all

 

[Roswell]

There are millions upon millions of houses without grounding in the US. Most houses built in the 60s or earlier aren’t grounded unless they had the electrical system revamped. It’s extremely common in the northeast. You’ll be fine like the countless others as long as there aren’t any glaring issues in your home.