The collective action of Taiwanese families: break or pull out the round pin on the plug
In the greater Taipei area, whether it is moving to a new home and unpacking a newly purchased microwave oven, computer monitor, or dehumidifier, many homeowners have a very skilled "ritual" before plugging in the plug: take out a vise, align it with the cylindrical "grounding pin (third pin)" on the plug, bend it hard, pull it out, or insert a yellow "three-to-two adapter". This is because there are a large number of old apartments and medieval houses in Taiwan, and their wall socket panels are still old-style two-hole sockets, making it impossible for three-pin plugs to be inserted directly. What is even more worrying is that even if some homeowners deliberately replace modern three-hole sockets during renovation, the green ground wire (G wire) inside is often suspended at all, or is only perfunctorily connected to the metal bento box (iron wiring cassette). This "virtual grounding" that exists in name only is a huge invisible landmine for Taiwan's home security.
The physical function of the ground wire: electrostatic shielding and leakage current channel
The ground wire (Earth Ground) is physically directly connected to a conductive metal plate or copper rod buried underground. Its core function is not to supply power, but to protect safety and precision electrical appliances:
1. Protective umbrella for human body safety: When the internal circuit insulation of metal-cased appliances such as washing machines, dryers, microwave ovens, etc. is damaged, causing the live wire to touch the metal casing, if the appliance does not have a ground wire, the casing will carry a voltage of 110V. At this time, if the human body touches the outer casing, the human body will become a path for current to flow to the earth, causing serious electric shock accidents. This will cause the no-fuse switch or leakage circuit breaker of the distribution box to trip instantly and cut off the power supply.
2. Electromagnetic protection of precision electrical appliances: For precision 3C products such as desktop computers, high-end speakers, routers and servers, the grounding wire also has the functions of "anti-static" and "electromagnetic shielding (shielding noise)". Without grounding, static electricity will accumulate in the casing of electrical appliances, causing a tingling sensation when touched. Static electricity accumulation will interfere with the sound, produce noise, and even chronically breakdown the chip, shortening the life of electronic components.
Rigid standards of regulations and grounding improvement construction methods in old apartments
According to Taiwan's "Regulations on Consumer Electrical Equipment Installations", the grounding resistance of general low-voltage electrical equipment (the third type of grounding) has strict requirements: for equipment below 150V,; for equipment between 151V and 300V (such as 220V appliances, air conditioners), the grounding resistance must be within Below 50 ohms, the real protective function can be exerted. If the plumber just casually tied the ground wire to the iron lunch box in the wall, and if the building itself does not have continuous steel bars connected to the earth, the resistance value may be as high as hundreds or even thousands of ohms, making it impossible to declare leakage current. This is a very deceptive and ineffective construction method.
If you want to achieve compliant grounding improvement in old apartments, common engineering solutions are as follows:
1. Earth grounding rod construction method (applicable to the first floor or single-family roof penetration):
- In an outdoor open space or fire alley, dig the ground, drive a pure copper grounding rod 1.5 meters to 2.4 meters long into the moist soil layer with a heavy hammer, and measure the resistance to be less than 100 ohms. Pull another green wire (grounding wire) above 5.5mm² into the indoor distribution box and connect it to the grounding bar.
2. Structural main reinforcement connection method (compromise solution for high-floor old apartments):
- Professional plumbers will locally drill the concrete wall near the distribution box to find the main beams or thick steel bars of the shear wall of the building structure, polish their outer skins, and use special welding or high-strength bolts to firmly connect the ground wires to the steel bars. This method must be measured with a grounding resistance meter to confirm that the steel bar has a good ground loop and the resistance meets the specifications before it can be used as a grounding electrode. Otherwise, electrical potential drift may cause damage to nearby household appliances.
Double-North Grounding Renovation Project Budget and Salary Trends
In the greater Taipei area, the cost of improving the grounding system varies greatly depending on the level of the floor and the difficulty of implementation:
* The plumber rewires the grounding terminal from the switchboard through the existing concealed pipe (pulling out the green 2.0mm wire) to the bathroom, kitchen and living room sockets. The wiring salary plus material fee is about NT$ 1,200 to NT$ 2,200 / socket.
* A set of continuous strip materials costs about NT$ 15,000 to NT$ 30,000, depending on the thickness of the excavated cement floor and the difficulty of excavation.
* The cost is approximately NT$ 8,000 to NT$ 15,000 / location.
Commercial acquisitions and businessmen’s long-term asset thinking: the value of true grounding in high-end properties and business operations
For commercial investors who specialize in acquiring old apartments in Shuangbei and renovating them into high-end commercial offices, SOHO shared spaces, or high-end e-sports rental apartments, Such business and entertainment properties are often equipped with servers, NAS storage systems, high-end e-sports hosts and professional audio and video equipment worth hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. If the grounding is false, once Taipei encounters a summer lightning strike or a power grid surge in Taipei, the powerful surge current cannot be discharged to the earth and will burn expensive motherboards directly along the live and neutral wires, causing data loss and business interruption for corporate customers, which will lead to high claims and customer cancellations. In the early stages of decoration, merchants present "qualified ground resistance test reports (below 100 ohms)" as a selling point for the property, which can not only avoid the financial risk of property damage due to lightning strikes, but also package "high-level protection against lightning strikes for electrical appliances and audio shielding" in the contract, which has a strong investment attraction for commercial enterprise customers and high-end creators. The price premium can be as high as more than 10%. This is professional heavy-duty wisdom that guarantees return on investment (ROI).
