Is Generator Grounding Necessary?

We need some help. DH was reading through the manual it talks about grounding the unit and connecting a ground lead, but no ground lead was provided. Is this a necessary component to run the generator safely - any thoughts or suggestions?

DH found a short discussion on an Airstream forum. Here is the link if anyone is interested. I guess we'll consider grounding it to a pipe if there is one around.

I did not see anything definative in that Airstream forum. I still wonder what the value would be of earth grounding the generator when the TT is isolated from ground.

The other concept that has not been really explained is why an onboard generator does not need to be grounded. I see those things fired up all the time and when did you see a ground rod anywhere around the TT?

[Bill]

SS&FCN have done some real nice work here. The Internet is full of misinformation, guesses, and "my buddy says ..." stories, but very little real knowledge. This is especially troublesome to me, since I am an electrical engineer, and I didn't know the answer. I've spent hours drawing little diagrams and trying to find the issues.

The NEC is the gold standard. In its hundreds (thousands?) of pages, it covers everything about how to do electricity. SS&FCN have uncovered the parts that answer our questions. If I'm reading correctly, the important conculsions appear to be

• you DO NOT need to drive a ground rod or ground stake (thank goodness)
• you DO need to use a sufficiently-heavy three-wire extension cord, in good condition, between the generator and the trailer. A two-wire cord is absolutely forbidden.
• you SHOULD add a separate grounding wire between the generator ground lug and the trailer frame.

Thanks to you guys for straightening this out.

Bill

Originally Posted by Bill

...Thanks to you guys for straightening this out...

And gal...

One of the electrical people I talked to about this said the reason you see them grounding generators, is that they do not want their people to forget to ground when they should.

[Bill]

Sorry 'bout that. I use "guys" to mean plural people of any age and gender. I think I picked it up from my kids, who seem to have done it since birth.

Bill

[grill-n-go]

My 5 y/o grand daughter went to the same language school as yours', when she's the boss the rest of the family is "guys".

I hope everyone knows I was being tongue & cheek...though be aware wife hit 4 targets in 4 seconds with her shotgun...

Thank you so much for finding the answer to the question, ng and Bill.

OK, after reading through this post, the majority consensus is that grounding is probably not necessary.

But just in case I do decide to ground my generator, I have a question:
I understand that sand is not a good ground. That being said, if I place a ground rod a foot or so into the sand, wouldn't it "probably" follow that ground instead of me touching the generator in the case of a catastrophic failure of the generator wiring. Doesn't ground usually follow the path of least resistance, and hopefully that being the rod in the sand instead of me standing on top of the sand somewhat insulated by shoes??

Thanks to all for a great thread here.

Chap