Grounding - Safety Fundamentals (1hr:13min:19sec) 

This man has dedicated his life to educating us so we can be safe and do safe work. God bless you Mike Holt

I cant believe this video has been on RU-vid for 9 years and I'm just now watching it. This is the absolute best explanation of electrical grounding I have seen to date. Thank you sir! I am an industrial combustion technician and try to absorb knowledge on everything I work with and around. Subscribed and liked 👍

9 years passed and still taking me to school.... thanks for the knowledge mike

Everyone in the electrical industry should watch this video.

After many decades, changing just one word, from 'connect equipment to ground' to 'connect equipment to source', has finally clarified in my mind exactly what it is I want to achieve. Thanks!!!

PHENOMENAL! Mike, you are the ONLY person who ever explained that "grounding" actual means that the earth is being used as a CONDUCTOR to get electrons BACK to the SOURCE. I was so confused about how the current would just "die" or get "absorbed" by the earth. This FINALLY makes it clear. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Long story short. 2 Months ago I saw this video by Mike Holt. 1 Month ago I bought Mike's Master Comprehensive Library program. Yesterday I passed my Ohio state Electrical test on the first attempt. But better than all that I have been trained better than I even knew was possible. AND I am teaching the other guys in my company things we were never taught! I am a very practical low key type of person. I don't recommend things lightly. This program is worth far more than it sells for. Thanks Mike, I'm truly thankful for all your efforts in these video's and the awesome text books.

This is so good. Mike and the team are truly a blessing. You can't safely execute your job without having this knowledge and understanding about grounding and bonding.

Great video very enlightening. After 42 years of system design, panel building, power design and control system design, I can say this is the best 1 hr presentation on the subject matter I have ever seen!

Thank you for making this available to the public, I am happy that you cleared up my misconceptions. You have probably saved some lives....

Every ground rod obsessed inspector needs to see this video!

Thank you for putting this video on the internet. You are saving lives.

I worked for 30 years as a welder. We hooked up as many as 50 to 100 Diesel driven welding machines sometimes as far as 200 yards from the work directly to columns hoping the current would get to the stinger via welding cable and the ground through the numerous metal in a structural steel yard inside of a steel mill. I never once thought that there was anything strange about turning the welding machine as high as I could to generate 120 DC current to the stinger. I thought the cable was frayed or buried and nearly cut. I carried a kit to cut and splice welding cables because they often got damaged on the construction site. We would have welding projects that lasted weeks with people welding 8 to 12 hours a day like this. No one ever thought about putting the machines up closer to the welding project. No one got killed that way but I remember having to get down in a pool of water to do some overhead welding with a DC current with my body soaking wet. I couldn't load an electrode in the stinger. I had an assistant with dry gloves load the stinger and I would take the stinger to do the overhead welding. I got numerous current waves if everything didn't coordinate seamlessly. It was a one day rush job and we were shorthanded. We did what the boss told us to do. I also worked as a welding inspector. There were numerous times when the magnetism of the current flowing through the welding cable blew the metal out of the weld. I believe welders need a whole lot more training about currents. I didn't see anything in the welding codes about dealing with electromagnetism. This was a good eye opening piece of instruction. I was of the belief that the more grounding rods the better. I learned something helpful today. I believe I need a good book on the fundamentals of current, RF oscillations an heat generated by currents and RF oscillations as well as electromagnetism in welding circuits.

This was a really FANTASTIC video! I'm an apprentice and I have to say, "From one analytical mind to another, I greatly appreciate your thoroughness in your program!"

Mike Holt you deserve millions of views, appreciate all content will be watching all of them. 3rd year apprentice here really wanting to grasp every theory and aspect of the trade, learn the code book well and continue my hands on work.

I have worked on industrial electronics for thirty years; I thought I understood the power system pretty well. Thank you for this.

I've been an electrical student for a little over a month now and this is the best resource i've been able to find so far! going to watch many of your videos.. thank you for providing this information !!

Great video. I'm an Electrical Engineer and I can testify that many Engineers out there have learned this stuff incorrectly.

Best video explaining grounding on RU-vid, even the entire internet.

Great video , I am just now getting more into electrical work after 40 years in home improvements. I thought watching a " Grounding Basics" would be a good video to start with . I had no idea how important this is to know ! Thanks !

Thanks for this video Mike. It’s actually pretty simple if you really think about it. You did a great job of explaining this and it makes so much more sense now.

When Mike said "I have 5 daughters and a wife" I understood a part of his character. Aside of this note good job, It seems the only one to have a goal of teaching and openly discuss the understanding of the code.

I wish I had these when I was going through school to really appreciate the concepts of electricity that any good designer should carry with them :( And simple to understand too!!

A voice of reason in the wilderness. The fundamentals of ohm's law always hold true. Thank you.

Hi Mike - I’m the guy that worked for SquareD and we shared interest in surge protection! Great to find you here:)

Anyone who gives a thumbs down on a mike holt video should go be a plumber.

Wow this is really a great video, I am so happy to have come across Mike Holt and his videos. This is the second time watching this and am learning so much in this alone. I plan to purchace his entire series of videos.

Wow…. It’s clear that your passion is about saving lives and not just for personal gain. Thank you Mike and keep doing these videos/public service

some of this was a bit confusing. You produced some excellent graphs and explanations though, and furthered my understanding of grounding potential. This more or less confirmed my thoughts, as we always worked with sensitive audio equipment and occasionally we would pull a ground to reduce noise. It is an absolute nightmare working in large buildings, and some of the older houses have very strange and ignorant grounding situations. I appreciate you raising awareness to this... Sometimes people would randomly ground racks to strange areas of the building with only partial connections to ground, etc. Or improper connections to ground.. etc... so you'd get these weird potentials and backfeeding over audio lines... yeah it can be a nightmare. Def have pulled ground once or twice just to prevent backfeeding and to try and get equivalent voltage/impedence from each piece of equipment, to the ground at the panel. I Like how you specified that there are occasionally reasons to have ungrounded systems, or unique grounding solutions. In some circumstances in complex, hybrid circuits and in low-voltage situations, or when connecting communication lines to racks with different grounding potential, it can create difficult situations which require a lot of creativity to solve without putting people at risk of shock.

How was I not taught this!!! Mike! You are blowing my mind! No wonder guys IN THE INDUSTRY treat electricity like it is as random and crazy as lightning. They don't know why they are even driving ground rods! Yikes! This is huge! I feel like knocking on all the electrician shops in my town and telling them all to watch this video! Yikes this is important! I am studying for my test right now. 15 years experience. My boss of 9 years died suddenly last month and everyone (his wife and 6 employees) are looking to me to take up the company. These videos will be a huge part of me retraining all of us in the proper understanding of WHAT WE ARE DOING EVERYDAY! Yikes! God bless and thank you!!

I have to say this is one of the most wake up calls for our business. we will be having a class base on this video. thank you.

Excellent ability to convey information for a laymen with minimal electrical training. Very knowledgeable and experienced.Explains fundamentals in electrical safety that's easily understood. I look forward to more of your videos.

Mike, Excellent, best video I ever watched regarding the two (usual) misconceptions...!!

You are absolutely correct at timestamp 52:30 . Ben Franklin created the "ground rod" that becomes 'connected' to the system and attracts lightning. But the PROPER way to do it is to repel the huge field. You will see this totally explained in one of Nikola Tesla's patents. The protection system looks somewhat like semi-domes above the protected "place" This is one of my favorite patents of his...but everyone choose Ben's way. It's a short patent with a main diagram that you probably would have shown here if you saw it. The patent title is something like: "Lightning Protector" I don't remember exactly.

This is the most important video about mains electrical safety on the internet. Watch it several times. Thanks @MikeHoltNEC

Thanks Mike, it’s been many years since I first heard this video and it is such a great video that I am sure that has helped save the lives of others. All, the best, Steve from ElectricalTime

Sir! You just increased my basic knowledge about electricity. I salute you on this educational video presentation. Thank you for sharing your skills. God bless your heart

Thanks Mike, I'm glad to hear you in the instruction for the correct and incorrect ways to safety of electrical workings of all types from a to z.

Amazing instructional video, thank you Mike and thanks to the Team behind you! God bless you!

12 years later and finally a clear explanation. Better late than never. Thanks

MIKE HOLT, THE MOST KNOWLEDGEABLE ELECTRICAL INSTRUCTOR EVER, THE BEST!!! HYGRADE ELECTRIC INC.

Your best video mike. You made it easy to understand. I liked the just go drive a ground rod and hook it up . plz keep putting these on RU-vid. We don't make enough money to buy all your videos

Hi Mike thank you so much! I work around electricity in an industry where the training is far far too basic to remain consistently safe and this as a supplementary form of education is fantastic! I plan on checking out your site and looking into your books as I aspire to do more work in electronics going forward and this was an phenomenal explanation that really helped me understand certain things I have seen in my own work. We do bonding all the time in our practices but everyone always called it grounding which is incorrect and the way in which we view our equipment grounds is horribly misunderstood in our industry where both are important you explanation regarding system and equipment grounds was the most helpful part of this for me in my work!

THIS IS WHY MIKE HOLT IS THE VERY BEST TEACHING ORGANIZATION,,...............................

Thanks, this really helped me gain a deeper understanding of grounding!!!

Thanks dude....you probably saved my life.....I get it now and understand the voltage leaks into the ground giving me a tingle in the soil in and around remote distribution boxes That I grounded and bonded to neutral too....WRONG.....I get it now. How could I have learned something so wrong for so long from so many people who believed the wrong thing...GROUNDING CAN'T CLEAR A FAULT.... no matter how many ground rods you drive, it won't bleed off that much current

I'm glad Eric said what he did about welding leads. I've always heard the work lead referred to as a ground lead, but calling it a work lead that allows the electrons to flow back to the machine makes so much more sense! I mean you're using heat to bond metal parts together. Awesome point. This whole video was such an awesome video. As an apprentice, years ago, I was really confused about the differences between grounding and bonding, and I can only contribute that to the fact that so many Journeymen are still confused as to what does what! Great Video y'all!

I concur. Robust explanation. Fantastic! I must review electrical service and equipment again. No were better to go then to Mike H.

This video was so informative. Thank you Mr Holt, your an excellent teacher, I only wish I had this knowledge before I installed numerous ground rods all over the backyard :)

54:05 still my favorite part "look at this cute lil ground wire" rofl

Awesome, I recently started my career in the U.S in construction industry and so grateful that I found your page/channel and website. Thank you so much, your videos are awesome.

Im with ya! Havent retaken the county test yet til im 100% clear on all the aspects in our trade. Man! So helpful thankyou!

This Sir was an exceptional presentation, thank you.

Seriously this was the best explanation of grounding and why you get electrocuted

These videos are fantastic. My new obsession. It's frankly terrifying to know how close to death all of us are all day everyday.. as a kid we stuck metal in receptacles, touched electric cattle fencing, wired up old cords to old air compressors and so on. I've been shocked maybe 10 or 20 times and one time I couldn't let go and didn't know I had to for a long few seconds as everything went to vibration land and my buddy standing next to me started talking robot gibberish. Pretty scary. Respect. I want to know all the code and theory. Can't wait to get your books in my hand. Just hope they don't shock me into becoming an electrician.

This video was so enlightening. Now anytime someone ask I'll be like "dude it doesn't take the path of least resistance to ground, it's trying to get back to the source". Thanks for the information.

Great information.

How does this translate into an IT (Isolated Terra) power distribution system, like we have in the older systems in Our conutry (Norway)? We still get shocked if we touch an electrical conductor and ground at the same time.

I passed NYC master electrician exam with Mike Holt Exam preparation DVDs . Very Helpful

This is an incredible video. Seriously, this is the best conversation on grounding / bonding I've witnessed.

Love the video, we’re lucky to have access to this for free! Wealth of information here, I’ll probably play this back several times to sink in all this info... near the end it sank in good: electrons want to go back home not to ground... Kirchhoff’s loop equations!

1. 0:55 Current leaves the source and returns to the source. 2. 2:20 Current does not go to ground. 3. 4:03 Voltage in a parallel circuit remains the same. 4. 15:18 How do you make the system safe? Turn the circuit off. a. 17:38 How do you turn it off? Have an effective ground fault current path to every piece of metal that has an electrical circuit to it or that could energize it. 5. 21:45 We have system grounding and equipment grounding.

I undestood everything after having watched this video over and over again. Now I am going to continue sharing this valuable information to others, I even have to translate it into Spanish for people here in Colombia.

Great video. Tons of info. Want to take one of these seminars soon.

50:00 is the meat and potatos, thanks for posting this!

Is this Mike D'Antoni??

Best video ever! Keep em' coming! Thank you!

I need to watch this video again, so much great information, thank you for sharing your knowledge

I've been an electrician since 2008 and I still feel like I don't have a clue what I'm doing.😞

After I learned basic electrical theory I always cringe when someone says, "electrons are trying to get to the ground." Once I sat through a lecture given by a woman from a utility company (who was likely their PR and not an electrician/lineman) who said this very thing. Long story short, I barely made it through the lecture without standing up and shouting, "No, No, NO! You've got it all wrong lady!"

I've always wanted to get into electrical work, so I've been watching Mr. Holts video's, and holy shit, this man knows sooooooo much! Wow.

Thank you Mr Mike, i will continue learn from your videos. Thank you.

Always add as many ohms as you can. Dry gloves, dry boots, and think about yourself in the circuit. Even when I work at my home, I work on live circuits only when I must. Pulling a wire tomorrow in my home, but will kill the panel and cover it with cardboard anyway. You die once.

Mike got me at 54:05, haha just COME on! You can't possibly....

Thank you Mike, you are giving us a starting essential knowledge that ends overall on staying safe and protect our own life and others too.

One word Brilliant.......Mikes teaching is next level on this topic.

So your saying a 240 circuit returns to a source just as 120 returns thru a neutral?

Dear +MikeHoltNEC, your video discussed an interesting topic, which we would like to share with several Spanish-speaking professionals, so I request please activate the subtitle function in this video, so that the youtube automatic translation help us to people who only talk spanish. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mike and colleagues. I am watching this video again as review. Education and science are there to prove the experts wrong! a paraphrase from Dr. Richard Feinman.

FINALLY--a clear and concise explanation of grounding. Well done!

Dam...I always thought ground rods we're life savers. Turns out their shit.

"The Earth doesn't come with terminals"

Loved the video I used to think that the ground rod could act as a pathway for the fault current now I know better thanks for posting these up:-D

Ive been watching this video for the past 2.5 hours rewinding back and fourth... cause im new to the trade i must say i enjoy the way explained it all... i can tell ya definitely passionate about ya skill as well as your teaching method is on point.... i definitely subscribed to your page and your my goto guy from hear on out.... Thank you for being Passionate about this Trade and Helping us not be misguided.

I want to be an electrician

If ground rods worked the way people think they do, we could all just drive them around our house and get free power from the earth.

Great job bud! Very well articulated.

Some years ago the organization that I worked for in IT purchased a building and re-designed it to suit our needs. The existing "transformer pod" from the electical utility provider was deemed adequate and was not inspected. We installed our switches and routers and servers and PC's etc. One of the systems we had implemented was a high speed digital radio that connected to our main branch some 60 Km's away. We were having alll kinds of issues with disconnects, PC's crashing, noise on the phone lines. After several engineers came and diagnosd, all said noisy ethernet, don't know why. Turned out there was a short in the cable (underground) that energized the grounds all over the building with a potential to deliver over 30 amps of current. Instead of digging up the cable and replacing it, they put a #4 copper cable from the server/switch rack back to the equipment ground. It's a wonder they didn't kill some one!

You are a great teacher. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Much appreciated.

Great Video! really clarified the very important differences between (earth) grounding and equipment grounding conductors.

this is the best subscription ever

I find this video is really helpful even to people who don't plan on taking an exam on the NEC... or want to be electricians... or plan to do any electrical work... or live in the US in the first place. If one finished high school, has an inkling of what AC actually is, then this video can clear up many common misconceptions and help one not to kill themselves by blindly relying on them. I consider myself to be knowledgeable about physics, and have a good intuition for it , but I never considered that a ground fault can _actually_ send current back to the power station through the earth, it seems magical at first. But it's fact, it made me look up single-wire earth return systems. I also never considered the mechanics of lightning restrikes before either. To be honest, this video started a fascination that made me consider taking a 12 month state-approved electricians certification course in my country... without any plan to work in the field.

This is gold! I’m an electrical engineer and thought I understood this. Wrong. Thank you very much!

Great helpful and educational video. Thanks Mike.

how energetic & genius you are! wow!God bless you Mike.

Thanks Mike, this is the greatest video Iv'e seen on grounding.

I died when he said "You're the capacitive path for the lightning into the Earth" 😂😂😂

I'm watching this in 2020. And believe me, its very difficult to go back to the perception I had before watching this video.

Thank you for the video. You are excellent at explaining concepts.

Great lecturer, Mike. Tks.