IMPORTANCE OF INSTALLING EARTHING SYSTEMS

Updated: Dec 11, 2020

Earthing is an important component of electrical systems because of the following reasons:

It keeps people safe by preventing electric shocks
It prevents damage to electrical appliances and devices by preventing excessive current from running through the circuit
It prevents the risk of fire that could otherwise be caused by current leakage

Advantages of earthing

From a technical perspective, earthing has some excellent advantages, resulting it in becoming a mainstream practice in the electrical industry.

The electrical system is related to the potential of the general earth mass and cannot reach a different potential. The potential of the earth is zero volts and is known as the neutral of the electricity supply. This helps in keeping the balance.
Another advantage is that metal can be used in electrical installations without having to worry about conductivity. Though metal is a good conductor of electricity, proper earthing ensures that metal parts not meant to be used for current transfer can be included in the system. This is done by providing a separate path for this faulty current, enabling its immediate detection and stoppage.
In cases of surges in the voltage, high voltages can pass through the electricity circuit. These kinds of overload can lead to damaging of devices and danger to human life. When earthing is installed with the electrical installations, the current is routed through a different path and does not affect the electrical system.
An electrical circuit has to be connected together with a lot of attention to the kind of reactions each transformer may have in response to any action on the part of any other transformer. The earth is an ever-present conductive surface and helps configure these relationships between different electrical sources and makes them easier to handle.