Do-it-yourself grounding in an old-style apartment. How to make grounding in the apartment of an old house? What is possible, what is not

Today it is difficult to imagine comfort without a variety of household appliances and a variety of lighting devices, but the possibility of their safe use depends on high-quality electrical wiring, as well as the availability of grounding in the apartment. The latter is especially important, as it serves as a reliable protection against electric shock, allows you to save electrical appliances from breakdowns and power surges. Unfortunately, on the territory of the CIS, in the houses of the old housing stock, grounding of apartments was not performed. Only in new houses, starting from 1998, they began to install real electrical grounding.

And if in new buildings the problem with grounding is by and large solved, then for the houses of the old housing stock it remains relevant. Often, the owners of such apartments begin to think about grounding when they make major repairs or purchase expensive household appliances. And the first thing they face is the lack of the possibility of arranging high-quality grounding. There are many reasons for this, but having knowledge of what grounding is, how it is done, and what needs to be done for this, you can do all the work without much difficulty.

Grounding systems

Create protective earth in the apartment you can in any case, it is important to know where and which wire to connect. To do this, you will need to familiarize yourself with various types grounding systems. This is important for a number of reasons. First, in houses built in different periods of time, different types grounding systems. And in order not to confuse anything, it is necessary to understand them at least a little. Secondly, an error in creating grounding can lead to a failure of the entire network as a whole or even lead to a fire. The safety of using electrical appliances and the lives of people depend on a properly connected ground.

So, according to GOST, there are the following types of grounding systems for the power grid: TN-S, TN-C, TN-C-S, TT, IT. The difference between them is the presence of a separate ground wire. The fact is that in some systems there is a “phase”, “zero” and “ground”, and in some - only “phase” and “zero”. The first two letters indicate the nature of the grounding of the power supply and the exposed parts of the conductor. For us, the second part of the marking is of greater interest. It is from it that you can find out where there is a separate ground wire, and where it is combined with "zero". So the letter "S" indicates that the system has a separate wire for "zero" and a separate one for grounding. The letter "C" indicates that "ground" and "zero" are represented by one wire. The letter "N" marks the neutral, which is grounded in systems with alternating current.

The grounding scheme in the apartment may contain the marking PE and PEN. In fact, this marking indicates the presence of a separate or combined ground. PEN is a combined "zero" and ground (C), and PE are separate conductors for "zero" and ground (S).

Important! The TT system provides for direct grounding of the equipment case. The IT system provides for grounding the equipment case through resistance or complete insulation of current-carrying conductors. These systems are commonly used in enterprises.

Knowing the marking of grounding systems, it can be noted that in houses built before 1998, the TN-C system is used. In such houses, two-core wiring made of aluminum or copper is laid. Therefore, in high-rise buildings of that time, three phases (L) and one PEN (C) conductor are connected to the riser. This grounding is also called zeroing.

Grounding scheme in an old housing stock apartment:

TN-C

Modern houses are labeled with the TN-S or TN-C-S system. Three phases (L), one zero working conductor (N) and one protected PE (S) conductor are connected to the riser of the house, and three-core wiring is laid in the premises. Connection to such a system is much easier compared to the TN-C system, since separate connection points are provided for each conductor, and grounding has a separate connection with the metal case of the shield.

Grounding scheme in the apartment of a new housing stock:

TN-S 1 - power supply grounding; 2 - exposed conductive parts.

TN-C-S 1 - power supply grounding; 2 - exposed conductive parts.

It should be noted that the ground loop is equipped in a multi-storey building at the stage of its construction, so it makes no sense to carry out a ground calculation. The creation of a circuit diagram and all calculations are carried out at the stage of designing a house. And in case you need to make new calculations, it is better to contact specialists or use a special program.

Installation of grounding in a house with a TN-C-S system

There are several ways to determine which grounding system is in the house. The first is to contact the electricians in the housing and communal services with a question about grounding. The second is to simply look into the switchboard on the floor and carefully examine the supply cable. The TN-C-S type grounding system is characterized by the use of a five-core cable: three phases (L), zero (N), and ground (PE). All wires are color coded for easy identification. So the “phase” (L) is brown or red, the “zero” (N) is blue or blue, the ground (PE) is a yellow wire with a green stripe or just green.

As noted earlier, making grounding in new homes with a TN-C-S system is quite simple. The fact is that three-wire wiring was originally laid inside the premises, and it has a separate ground cable. But if, having acquired an apartment after the builders, it turns out that there is no divorced wiring, then there is nothing to worry about either, you can do everything yourself. It will not be difficult to bring all the wires to the shield in the apartment.

Wire connection is carried out as follows. If the switchboard has not been installed in the apartment, you will have to deal with its installation and installation of the RCD inside the switchboard. Usually the shield is placed next to the front door in an easily accessible place. We drill a through hole next to the shield and pass a cable through it to connect to the shield on the landing. We connect the wires of the incoming cable to the shield in the apartment as follows:

• yellow-green (ground) is connected to the ground bus. The tire itself is located in the lower right corner of the shield;
• connect the blue or blue wire (zero) to the zero bus. It is located in the upper left corner of the shield;
• we connect the power wire (phase) to several RCDs in series.
• now we connect the wiring from the apartment to the shield. We carry out the connection in the same way as described above, with the only difference being that we connect a separate group of electrical appliances to a single RCD.

Now we call electricians to turn off the power to the riser. Once this is done, the electricians will make the connection to the main switchboard and turn the power back on. Upon completion of all work, you can test the network for grounding. Grounding check is carried out with a conventional voltmeter, other methods are unsafe. On the voltmeter, we set the maximum voltage to 250 V and apply one probe to the ground, the second to the "phase". The arrow should deviate by 230 - 240 V, so everything is in order.

Important! It is forbidden to make a connection to the main shield on your own. Firstly, you will not be able to turn off the riser yourself, and even if you can, you do not have permission to do so. Secondly, the connection to the common power grid should be made by a person with the appropriate authority, knowledge and skills. Thirdly, you may be fined or subject to more severe sanctions for disconnecting without permission. In addition, any mistake can lead to a fire or damage to the power grid.

Installation of grounding in a house with a TN-C system

It was previously noted that the TN-C grounding system is typical for houses of the old housing stock. You can check this in the same way as described above. The only difference is that looking into the switchboard, you can see the absence of a yellow-green wire in the supply cable. There can be three phases and zero. Grounding in such houses, in fact, is absent, and making it for a single apartment is somewhat more difficult, but possible. To do this, you will have to perform a major overhaul with a complete replacement of all wiring. This is important, since the old wiring is a two-core aluminum wire, and a third core is also needed to create a ground.

Important! When completely replacing the wiring and laying a new one, it is necessary to draw up a plan of the laid wires with all junction boxes and connection points. All work is carried out in strict compliance with safety regulations, requirements for wiring, installation of connection points and lighting fixtures. When choosing wires and electrical appliances, you should know the requirements that apply to them for installation in residential premises. Your safety when using the mains will depend on compliance with all the rules during installation.

After laying new wiring, we install the switchboard and RCDs in the same way as described above for the TN-C-S grounding system. We call electricians, and they make the connection. But the connection itself to the main switchboard will be made in a slightly different way. It's all about the missing ground wire. And at this stage, you can go in two ways: perform zeroing or full grounding.

Zeroing in the TN-C system

This way is somewhat easier, but also less safe. The fact is that the GOST recommendations for TN-C systems are somewhat outdated, not to mention the partially worn out supply cable, worn out electrical equipment and the deplorable state of the shields. As noted earlier, for such systems, grounding is performed by combining the neutral conductor with the ground conductor. Which, combined with worn out equipment, can lead to a fire. But there's nothing to be done, according to GOST everything is as it should be.

Full grounding in the TN-C system

The second way involves the creation of a full-fledged ground loop. It is more complex, but also more reliable. You will have to create your own ground loop. To do this, after agreeing with the electricians, you can bury the electrodes in the basement of the house and stretch a separate wire from them along the riser and start grounding from it into the apartment. Some homeowners on the lower floors dig in a ground loop directly next to the house. But it is worth noting that the creation of a full-fledged grounding in old houses is a very expensive matter, requiring calculations for the ground loop itself.

Important! Some owners ground their wiring by connecting the wire to radiators or a riser. cold water as well as gas pipes. This is an extremely wrong decision. Firstly, such grounding reduces the reliability of pipes. Secondly, no one will like that from touching a warm battery he will be shocked by current. Thirdly, the current flowing through such a ground can be large enough to drain a child who accidentally touches the pipe.

Creating grounding in an apartment is a very responsible task. The safety of using electrical appliances will depend on how well and reliably it is done. And compliance with the rules and requirements for wiring will allow you to forget about problems with the power grid for many years.

In all new buildings, the problem of grounding is solved already when the house is put into operation, however, in old apartments it is often necessary to do it yourself.

You can create protection only knowing where which wire needs to be connected. Houses built at different times use different grounding systems.

If there is no grounding in the apartment, you need to do it yourself, but you should be very careful, as improperly performed work can lead to a power failure or even a fire.

The following types are known:

1. TN-S.
2. TN-C.
3. TN-C-S.

These systems differ in that some of them have a “ground” wire, and some only have “phase” and “zero”. You can understand whether there is such a wire by the second part of the system marking - in a system with the letter S, zero and earth are in different wires, and with the letter C - in one. The letter N indicates the neutral, which is used in AC networks.

Grounding in old apartments is usually done according to the TN-C system. In houses built before 1998, the wiring is usually two-wire, with aluminum and copper wire. More modern houses usually use the TN-S or TN-C-S system.

To determine the type of protection system in your home, you need to contact the Housing Office, where electricians will answer this question for you.

To determine if there is grounding for the bath in the apartment, or any other premises, you need to open the electrical panel, find the input cable and count the number of wires in them. Five conductors means the TN-C-S system in the house. Four conductors indicate that TN-C. Knowing which system, it will be easier for you to answer the question of how to make grounding in an apartment.

The easiest way to ground the sockets in the apartment is to make the residents of the first floors. In this case, they can simply lead the "ground" wire into the yard.

Residents of other floors need to connect the ground wire to the shield and bring it to the zero panel. After that, a wiring of three wires stretches to the right place. This is a very economical and easy way, but it is only possible if you are currently undergoing repairs. In other cases, for example, when buying new household appliances, grounding is also necessary, but it will not work in this way. True, you can connect the equipment directly to the outlet, but there is a risk of getting an electric shock when working with it.

If you have purchased new appliances, such as a washing machine or boiler, then first you should replace the old outlet with a new one that has protection. It is important that the new outlet is exactly the same size as the old one, otherwise the outlet space will have to be replaced.

If it is not possible to pull wires through the entire apartment, then you can simply switch phase zero to ground in the outlet. To do this, use the indicator to check which wire is zero. It is important that the wire that is used for the jumper is uniform.

Thus, you can easily ground the outlet, however, if you have the opportunity, it is better to resort to the full grounding of the apartment.

High-quality grounding can not only protect you when working with electrical appliances, protect you from electric shock, but also significantly extend the life of the devices. It can protect them from damage due to power surges.

On the this moment almost every person may be faced with a situation where it is necessary to make grounding in the apartment, but there is simply no corresponding ground terminal on the floor board. Usually, the absence of a contour can be observed only in old houses.

Now every electrician can solve this problem in his own way: who installs the ouzo, who makes an individual circuit, and who generally connects the ground circuit to the battery. In this article, we decided to talk about how to properly make grounding in an apartment with our own hands. You can also find out which protection option is prohibited.

Right Decisions

RCD connection

If your house simply does not have grounding, but you plan to protect yourself, then in this case you will need to install. This device, of course, will not be able to solve such a problem completely, but at the moment when a current leakage occurs, it can simply turn off the power supply.

You will also need to learn how to change the wiring to three-wire wires. Thanks to this, in the event that grounding appears in the house, you will be ready. All you have to do is connect the PE wire to the corresponding busbar of the electrical panel.

Installation of your own circuit

In most cases, you can meet tenants who plan to install their own circuit. If you also decide to make grounding in Khrushchev yourself, then remember that this is a responsible process. The essence of the idea is that you will need to stretch a single-core PE wire along the risers to the basement. Near the house, you will need to drive at least three metal corners into the ground. They will also need to be connected to each other using a metal plate. To the finished structure, you will need to connect the wire from the floor. The other end of this wire will need to be fixed in the shield. Now it remains just to connect the grounding of the apartment to the shield and now the leakage protection will be completely ready.

It's important to know! Such a system, you need to discuss only with management company. It is not recommended to make such a decision on your own, as in the future you may encounter certain problems.

It is also necessary to remember that if you decide to make your own grounding circuit in the apartment, then the PE wire must be copper and have a cross section of at least 4 mm2. This method of grounding is perfect not only for residents of the 1st floor, but also for other floors.

Dangerous defense option

Also, recently you can meet unfortunate electricians. They want to solve a similar problem by simply connecting a third wire to the plumbing system, but this is completely wrong. This option cannot be used, as you may encounter the following problems:

1. A breakdown of current occurs on the body of the electrical appliance.
2. Hazardous current will flow to hot and cold batteries. cold water. This problem will occur not only in your apartment, but also in others.
3. In this case, almost anyone who plans to just drink water can become a victim of your grounding system.

You also need to remember that such tasks will be completely prohibited in the rules of the PUE.

In addition, the following grounding methods can also be considered unsafe:

• Connection in a zero socket with a grounding conductor. If there is a break in the neutral wire in the network, then dangerous voltage can go to the body of all electrical appliances.
• Serial grounding of electrical appliances. If you plan to make such a ground loop, then remember that electromagnetic incompatibility may occur during an accident. As a result, noise will be created and it may be possible that the ground loop simply cannot prevent electric shock.
• Connection to one terminal of the PE bus of several wires. At the moment, it is allowed to simply connect one conductor to each contact pad. It is forbidden to disregard this rule.

This is all the information you need to know about how to make grounding in an apartment if it is completely absent. We recommend using an RCD as a temporary protection option. It is also necessary to contact the authorities so that they can upgrade the electrical wiring in your home.

How to make grounding in the apartment of an old house? What is possible, what is not

Today, all apartments are saturated with powerful electrical appliances. For safety reasons, they must be connected to a network with a ground loop. This protects the user from electric shock in the event of an emergency.

But our houses have been equipped with fully protected electrical wiring only since 1998. How to be the owners of houses of earlier construction, is it possible to make grounding in your apartment? Let's try to deal with this issue.

A bit of theory

Before you decide to mount a grounding structure, be sure to get acquainted with the theoretical part. All requirements for this device are spelled out in the PUE (Electrical Installation Rules), Chapter 1.7 Grounding and electrical safety protective measures. Let us briefly consider the basic concepts that appear in this part of the PUE.

• grounding- connection of parts electrical network, electrical appliances with a grounding device.
• Grounding device- a set of ground electrode and conductive contact plates.
• grounding conductor- a conductor in direct contact with the earth.

In addition to the PUE, the requirements for grounding structures of houses are regulated by documents:

• PTBE - Safety regulations for the operation of consumer electrical installations;
• PTEE - Rules for the technical operation of consumer electrical installations.

None of the above documents clearly indicates that protective structures must be installed by special organizations. The main requirement is that everything must meet the requirements specified in the documents.

Please note: when installing a grounding device in a house on your own, if it fails, no one will compensate your losses. If you order a project for power engineers and a special organization performs the work, there is a possibility of receiving compensation. But the cost of installation will be quite high.

Getting Started

First, find out if grounding is present in your home. Together with an electrician from the DEZ, see which cable is suitable from the substation to the SchVS. If it is five-core, your house is equipped with TN-C-S wiring, that is, a ground loop is already present. But if four-wire is your TN-C system and you should think about installing it.

Residents of the first floors of a high-rise building can afford the installation of a modular pin circuit - their apartments are located close to the ground. But what about the inhabitants of the upper floors? The easiest and cheapest solution to this problem is to lay a new three-wire wiring during the repair, install sockets equipped with a grounding contact.

Socket with earthing contact

If the house is powered by the TN-C-S system, making the connection is easy - connect the ground wire to the appropriate bus on the switchboard.

Switchboard in the apartment

When powering the house using the TN-C system, a new three-wire wiring will not solve the issue. So you only prepare your electrical network in case your house during overhaul decide to connect via the TN-C-S system. But before that, you will not have grounding.

Second option. In old houses, the wiring is made with a two-core aluminum cable. It must be replaced with a three-core one - one core is needed for grounding. At front door install a switchboard with an RCD (residual current device).

The next step is to connect to the main switchboard. There are two options in the TN-C system - zeroing or full grounding.

Zeroing TN-C

Zero busbar in floor shield

This is the easiest way, but not completely secure. It is performed by combining the neutral wire with the ground conductor.

Remember: when the neutral conductor burns out, the RCDs often do not have time to trip - they themselves burn out faster.

Grounding TN-C

Ground loop

This method creates the most effective protection for humans and electrical appliances. It is necessary to create a circuit consisting of grounding conductors connected to each other by conductive plates. From the circuit, a wire is laid along the riser and grounding is connected to the apartments from it.

This method requires preliminary calculations and the participation of specialists during installation. The ground loop must be carried out by all residents of the house - the costs for each apartment will be much less.

Errors allowed with grounding equipment

Having decided to conduct grounding on their own, work is often performed in violation of the requirements specified in the PUE, PTBE, PTEE. It is forbidden to do the following:

• split the PEN wire on the apartment switchboard in order to ground electrical equipment;
• ground the wiring by connecting to heating radiators, a water riser. There is a high probability of electric shock to people in contact with them;
• create an imitation of grounding by connecting the working and protective neutral wires in the euro socket. When the neutral wire burns out at the substation, a current of 220 V breaks through the metal case of the electrical equipment;
• bring the ground wire out and connect it to unprepared contacts;

Incorrect ground wire connection

• carry out serial grounding of electrical installations, connect several ground wires to one bus terminal bolt.

Incorrect and correct sequence of connecting equipment to the ground loop

Conclusion

The most difficult task is to create a grounding circuit in old houses connected via TN-C. By itself, this scheme is of little use for obtaining a working ground. The current present on the neutral wire itself creates electrical interference. This must be taken into account when creating a protective system.

Therefore, the installation of a grounding structure must be taken with all responsibility. The safety of using electrical appliances depends on how well and competently this work is done.

Electricity is no joke. Use only qualified electricians for electrical work.