How important is the grounding wire ?

[Wopschi]

So yeah my psu died within a month now Im wondering how important the grounding wire is because i used a 2 pin to 3 pin (uk) adapter so my grounding wire wasn't physically connected... could that have killed my psu? After all when the psu died it triggered the breaker in my room and in every other room i connected it.. 
Also when my psu died I didnt smell any burning or the motherboard didnt look scorched.. does that mean my other components got away safe? 
it's a 600 watt psu from evga with bronze certification... 

[AlwaysFSX]

The grounding wire is what usually prevents things from exploding.

[SirRoderick]

EXTREMELY

[Hans Christian | Teri]

I've run every computer I've owned with 2-pin cables, that is definitely not what killed your PSU.

[LemonSpice]

it is very important as if you have a lightning storm and you have a powersurge it will destroy your computer

[steffen_anywhere]

So yeah my psu died within a month now Im wondering how important the grounding wire is because i used a 2 pin to 3 pin (uk) adapter so my grounding wire wasn't physically connected... could that have killed my psu? After all when the psu died it triggered the breaker in my room and in every other room i connected it.. 

Also when my psu died I didnt smell any burning or the motherboard didnt look scorched.. does that mean my other components got away safe? 

it's a 600 watt psu from evga with bronze certification... 

 

All your other components are most likely fine. A good PSU will actually have overcurrent protection, but in your case, I think that the PSU itself malfunctioned somehow and is now shorting out, which kicks your circuit breakers.

 

You should plug in your ground, but honestly it should be fine without it. It is really just a safety for YOU as it will prevent you from grounding it by touching it when it has some kind of problem and in the process killing you of you're unlucky.

[Th3 Mans1ay3r]

Absurdly.

 

Ya dun goofed son.

[SirRoderick]

People do make light of it sometimes, but for the love of the Kiwi god, ground your expensive electronics

[phillrulz]

grounding doesn't stop things exploding its a safety feature, if something goes wrong and electrifys the metal box the earth would take this away, Not everything needs a ground, sometimes the power supply is "floating" meaning it isnt physically grounded. They can sometimes use the neutral as a ground but this can be dangerous as NEUTRAL CAN BE LIVE . A good rule of thumb is that if it has a ground use it.

 

In some applications like lighting protectors there are components call gas discharge tubes or neon arc lamps, these work by being lined between the live and the earth, when lighting or any high voltage goes in it like all electricity wants to find the the lowest resistance path to earth, in high voltage will ionize the gas making it conduct aka arc to earth rather than fry your electronics.

[Hans Christian | Teri]

grounding doesn't stop things exploding its a safety feature, if something goes wrong and electrifys the metal box the earth would take this away.

 

This. Jesus the amount of misinformation in this thread already...

[LarsReviews]

You got a Fi switch in your house. If L (the power providing wire) gets loose and touches metal, the power will go through ground and the Fi will detect that something is wrong and kill the power. If ground is removed, you have a good chance of killing yourself. 

 

Just found out that Fi is called RCD in English.

 

ALWAYS USE GROUND IF A DEVICE REQUIRES IT! 

[Wopschi]

yeah i already replaced the adapter with one which actually has physical grounding wire connectors... thanks guys

[Wopschi]

oh and btw... when my psu broke evga offered me a replacement... a gold certified 650 watt fully modular psu free of charge LOLOL 
only problem is they sent out the 600b "by accident" now i have to refuse the delivery from ups and wait for the proper unit

[Kermit]

The only thing that the third prong does is 1) prevent electrical shock if handled the wrong way and 2) prevent the components from getting fried b/c of a power surge or transformer blowing up. Unless that prong wasn't working and there was a surge, then you have greater priorities on your hands.

[Kermit]

Oh. We already solved this one.