What is earthing?

Earthing means connecting any non-current carrying conductor part

of an electrical system with general mass of earth in such a manner
that there is an immediate discharge of electrical energy to the
earth in the event of electrical potential developed at that part of
the system. For example, metallic frame work of electrical
appliances, metallic covering of electrical cables, the earth terminal
of three pin socket outlets, stay wires and also neutral point of
single phase and three phase supply systems must be properly
earthed. Earthing is done to ensure that no current carrying part of
the system rises to be potential beyond its normal value, no noncurrent carrying conducting part of a system rises to a potential
beyond earth potential that is zero. Proper earthing also helps to
avoid electrical shock to the human beings also to avoid the chance
of fire hazard due to leakage current through unwanted path.

Why earthing is required in an electrical

installation?

Properly designed, constructed and installed electrical equipments

and appliances should not have any of the non-current carrying
conducting parts which is in contact with any current carrying part.
But accidentally may be due to failure of insulation between current
carrying and non-current carrying conducting parts of the
equipment/appliance, if any of the non-current carrying conducting
parts comes in contact with any of the current carrying parts of the
equipment/appliance, there will be a static electrical charge
developed in the non-current carrying conducting part. Now if any
human being touches that non-current carrying conducting part of
the equipment or appliance, the accumulated static charge will get a
path to the earth through his body and hence it is discharged
immediately, as a result he gets an electrical shock. But if the noncurrent carrying conducting parts that are metallic frameworks parts
of the equipment or appliance properly earthed, then at the
occurrence of touching between any current carrying part or live
part to the non-current carrying part of the equipment/appliance,
the live part of the equipment/appliance gets low impedance path to

the earth through the properly earthed metallic frameworks and

hence there will be a huge current drawn from source, passing to
the earth through this path. As a result the circuit breaker or MCB,
or fuses associated with this equipment/appliance will immediately
break to discontinue the supply to the equipment/appliance. Thus
proper earthing of non-current carrying metallic parts of electrical
equipments and appliances provides safety of operation.

What should be the distance of earth from a

building?
An article electrode should not be situated within a distance of 1.5
m from the building whose installation system is being earthed.

What should be the size of earth continuity

conductor?

The conductor by which a metallic framework of an electrical

equipment/appliance is connected to the earth is referred as earth
continuity conductor. The cross-section of earth continuity conductor
should not be either less than 2.9 mm2 or half of the installation
conductor size.

What should be the earth resistance of an

electrical installation?

Earth resistance is defined as the resistance between actual earth

and the earthed body of the installation. This is nothing but the
resistance of the path connecting the body of the installation to the
actual earth. This resistance should be low enough to carry
sufficient current to the earth to ensure proper operation of
protective relays or blowing of fuses associated to the installation.
The earth path consists not only the earth continuity conductor but
also it includes soil in between the end of the earth continuity
conductor inside the ground and actual earth. As the resistivity of
soil depends upon its moisture content, it varies time to time
throughout the year. As a result earth resistance of an installation is
not constant throughout the year, it varies with weather conditions.
Earth resistance of an installation is minimum in rainy season
whereas it is maximum in dry season. Although this resistance
varies time to time, but there are some standards of maximum

allowable earth resistance. 1. Maximum allowable earth resistance

of a large power station is 0.5 ohm 2. Maximum allowable earth
resistance of major power station is 1.0 ohm 3. Maximum allowable
earth resistance of small substations is 2.0 ohm 4. Maximum
allowable earth resistance for all other cases is 5 ohm. This should
be noted that, the resistance between any point on the earthed
body and the earth pit should be less than 1 ohm.

What are the different methods of earthing of

electrical installations?
There are different methods used for earthing of electrical
installations depending upon the requirements. Such as strip or wire
earthing, rod earthing, pipe earthing and plate earthing etc.

What is strip earthing or wire earthing?

In this system of earthing, a copper strip of minimum cross-section

25 mm 1.6 mm is buried horizontally inside the ground at
minimum depth 0.5 m and alternatively a galvanised iron strip of
minimum of cross-section 25 mm 4 mm can be buried
horizontally at a same depth inside the ground. For this purpose
around conductor can also be used and at that case the minimum
cross-sectional area for copper conductor would be 3 mm and for
galvanised iron conductor it would be 6 mm. The buried portion of
the electrode that is either script or round conductor should be long
enough to provide required minimum resistance to the earth path.
Generally the length of the conductor inside the ground is
maintained more than 15 m. The buried conductor should be widely
distributed as possible preferably in a single straight trench or in a
circular trench or in a number of trenches radiating from a point.
This type of earthing is mainly used in rocky area where excavation
work is quite difficult.

What is rod earthing?

In this type of earthing, a metallic rod of sufficient length is driven

vertically into the ground normally by hammering on the top.
Normally galvanised iron rod of 16mm diameter or hollow
galvanised iron pipe of 25 mm diameter of minimum length 2.5 m
are used for this purpose. The electrical installation which to be
earthed, is connected to the top of the earth rod or pipe by means
of copper or aluminium earth continuity conductor of sufficient
cross-section. The rod earthing system is mainly used where soil

has sandy characters and also it is often used for temporary

earthing purpose. This is cheapest and easiest method of earthing
as this method does not require any excavation work.

What is pipe earthing?

Pipe earthing system is most commonly used and reliable system.

In this method of earthing, a galvanised steel pipe of suitable length
and diameter is buried vertically in the permanent wet soil under
the ground. The length and diameter of the pipe are determined by
the conditions of soil and the current to be carried. Normally
minimum diameter and length of the pipe is maintained 40 mm and
2.5 m respectively for ordinary condition of soil and greater length
is used for rocky and dry soil conditions. The depth under ground
level at which the pipe is buried, depends upon the moisture
condition of soil but it should not be less than 3.75 m under the
ground. The earthing pipe is surrounded by alternative layers of
charcoal and salt to keep moisture and thereby reduces the earth
resistance. Another galvanised iron pipe of lesser diameter (19 mm)
is fitted vertically on the top of the earthing pipe by means of
reducing socket. The top of this pipe is projected in a cement
concrete work on the ground. One or more GI plates are welded on
this pipe by keeping the pipe openings clear to facilitate the
connections of earth continuity conductors from different electrical
installations. The cement concrete work is done to keep the water
arrangement accessible and in dry season to keep the earth
resistance minimum, 3 to 4 buckets of water are put in the concrete
work or through the funnel if it is fitted to the top of the 19 mm
diameter pipe.

What is plate earthing?

This is another popular method of earthing. In this method a

metallic plate of sufficient size is buried in wet soil vertically under
the ground. If copper plate is used for this purpose the minimum
dimensional of the plates should be 60 cm 60 cm 3 mm and if it
is GI plate, then minimum dimensional should be 60 cm 60 cm
6 mm. In case of copper plate, a copper earth continuity conductor
is connected to the plate with the help of copper nuts bolts and
washers whereas in the case of GI plate, GI earth continuity
conductor is connected to the plate with help of GI nut bolts and
washers. This earthing plate along with connected earth continuity

conductor, is buried vertically at minimum 3 m depth under the

ground. The surroundings of the plate are filled with alternative
layers of charcoal and salt of minimum 15 cm thickness of each
layer. From the buried plate, the earth continuity conductor is
passed through a GI pipe of 12 mm diameter. These GI pipe is used
to protect the earth continuity conductor from direct contact of soil.
Now another GI pipe of 19 mm diameter is driven vertically to the
GI plate. Top of this 19 mm diameter pipe should be projected
vertically on the ground level. A concrete chamber is made around
the projected 19 mm diameter pipe and this chamber is covered by
cast iron shutter. The 19 mm diameter pipe is used to keep the
water arrangement accessible to the earthing plate. In this type of
earthing, 1 to 2 buckets of water is poured on every 3 to 4 days
through a funnel at the top of the 19 mm diameter pipe to facilitate
the moisture content of the surroundings of the earthing plate.

How to test the earth continuity path of an

electrical installation?

In a properly designed wiring system, there are number of earth

points located different positions throughout the wiring. For example
each plug socket will have a third earthing point. The metallic body
of each electrical appliance is connected to the earth through an
earth points. This test ensures the continuity between an earth
point and the actual earth. In this test, one terminal of earth
continuity tester is connected to the earth point whose continuity is
to be checked and other terminal of the tester is connected to the
main earthing system of the building. The pointer of earth continuity
tester will give the resistive value between the said earth point and
actual earth. In any case, the value must not be greater than 1
ohm. If it is greater than 1 ohm, then the earthing connection
should be physically rechecked and properly rectified to achieve
desired minimum earth resistance.