Drilling wally world 10G - Page 3 - Aquarium Advice

FishEggs · 07-01-2009, 10:35 AM

most corded drills are 2 prong now anyway. in fact out of all the power tools i use the heavy duty machinery (tablesaw, old radial arm saw, drill press) are the ones with 3 prongs. Sparky is correct in that the answer to that is using a GFCI whether it's a portable one or a wall outlet. you should never take a ground prong off a cord. we cant use any extension cords where the ground has been broken off on any jobsite for a reason.

InfernoST · 07-01-2009, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FishEggs

most corded drills are 2 prong now anyway. in fact out of all the power tools i use the heavy duty machinery (tablesaw, old radial arm saw, drill press) are the ones with 3 prongs. Sparky is correct in that the answer to that is using a GFCI whether it's a portable one or a wall outlet. you should never take a ground prong off a cord. we cant use any extension cords where the ground has been broken off on any jobsite for a reason.

I never said remove the ground prong I said use an adapter to temporarily bypass the the ground. A GFCI is not going to work properly anyway on a 2 pronged plug because the device doesn't have a ground reference, a large amount of current will have to occur in order to trip the GFCI, If you are using a the grounded plug the GFCI will trip upon the slightest current from it's ground reference, less than 250ma. The reason I said bypass the ground is because if you are touching any grounded part of the drill and you are drilling in water you now just became the path for the electricity to flow thru. You see if the ground is bypassed and you yourself are isolated from ground you wont gat zapped.

FishEggs · 07-01-2009, 11:25 AM

the reason for the ground is so you do not become the ground. those 3 prong to 2 prong adapters are still supposed to be grounded by screwing that little bare metal forked thing to the center screw on the outlet. it is not to bypass the ground.

InfernoST · 07-01-2009, 11:52 AM

Whatever, I was in the hospital for 2 days because the drill was grounded and it was 277 vac not 120, I'm just trying to share my experience and help to prevent anyone else from getting hurt, even though it will be highly unlikely when drilling a tank. I've done the same thing about 15 times after the accident with an ungrounded drill and have not had a problem(same drill). The GFCI thing is great but they trip way to easy under certain circumstances. In any case you win.

AMDPhenomX4 · 07-01-2009, 12:18 PM

Walmart tank sides are NOT tempered. I found that out when i was removing the trim... It cracked the whole piece in half

. Succeeded 2nd time though.

SparKy697 · 07-01-2009, 09:55 PM

Sorry Partypalooza for hijacking your thread.

I think it is very important that we put this grounding issue to bed.

At no time are you safer with a tool that has had it's ground disabled.

To suggest that it is somehow safer is in my opinion dangerous. A GFCI protected circuit is always recommended when ever using a power tool around water.

The great thing about a GFCI is that it DOES NOT need a ground reference to function. The circuit simply measures the current in one wire against the current in the other. When there is a sufficient difference between the two, the assumption is that that leakage current may be going through a person and the circuit is opened. They will trip at times that are not convienant, but that is a whole lot better than not tripping when it needs to protect you.

That's advice you can live with.

partypalooza5 · 07-01-2009, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SparKy697

Sorry Partypalooza for hijacking your thread.

I think it is very important that we put this grounding issue to bed.

At no time are you safer with a tool that has had it's ground disabled.

To suggest that it is somehow safer is in my opinion dangerous. A GFCI protected circuit is always recommended when ever using a power tool around water.

The great thing about a GFCI is that it DOES NOT need a ground reference to function. The circuit simply measures the current in one wire against the current in the other. When there is a sufficient difference between the two, the assumption is that that leakage current may be going through a person and the circuit is opened. They will trip at times that are not convienant, but that is a whole lot better than not tripping when it needs to protect you.

That's advice you can live with.

I agree with this. Right now all of my equipment is plugged into a GFCI

Not respecting water and electricity can cause shocking results. (I tried..

)

My corded drill is so old there isn't even a grounding plug on it. I need a new one anyway

.

FishEggs · 07-01-2009, 11:13 PM

i dont want to burst your bubble for going out to buy a new drill but the new ones don't have a ground prong on them either. they are double insulated polarized plugs with one prong wider than the other.

partypalooza5 · 07-01-2009, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FishEggs

i dont want to burst your bubble for going out to buy a new drill but the new ones don't have a ground prong on them either. they are double insulated polarized plugs with one prong wider than the other.

Hmm... Oh well. I guess I'll wear a rubber shirt and pants while I'm drilling