Grounding – Can the Ground Pin of a Wall Socket Be Connected to Neutral?

groundingneutralsocket

I have leaking currents issues in my apartment. There are some appliances in the apartment that don't have a problem with a wall socket that doesn't have a ground; like, TV, mobile charger, laptop charger, water heater, clothes washer, electric oven and router.

But there are other appliances that have a problem and need grounding to get rid of these leaking currents in the apartment which are; the PC rig power supply and my dish washer, but what is the reason of getting electric shock in my apartment ! I don't know.

The dish washer most the time shock me when I touch its internal metal surface, and my PC power supply is under the stress of leaking currents all the time ! Every time I touch the edges of the case I get an electric shock.

I thought the power supply is faulty, and I bought a new one and the same problem ! Then I learned that power supply need the ground but why exactly, I don't know.

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Now it come to the configuration of electrical installation in my country. We now in modern cities, have 3-ph, star connection to the main panel of each apartment. Between each phase is 391V and any phase with neutral is 220V.

I think the neutral is also connected to the earth because in the main panel there's a big black wire that's going down with the 3-ph cables too. But I'm not sure if it's really going to a REAL ground of the building.

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OK guys I have some new stuff I found inside the apartment 🙂

Today I did a trick that my colleagues told me to do.

Which is to connect the power strip and measure the voltages between L-GND and N-GND, and the results are interesting !

Without a power strip, that if I connect the DMM to the wall outlet directly then I won't find any voltages between L-GND and N-GND. But when I connect the power strip I find that L-GND gives 103V and N-GND 85V !! Why that ??

There are the photos I took this evening.

I did 2 tests with the DMM. 1 is using only one DMM probe and the other is floating 2 using both DMM probes.

  1. First floating test:

This is live because it gives 23V
floating1

This is of course is neutral
floating2

  1. Voltage from L-GND and N-GND on the power strip:

This should be L-GND because it's higher voltage of 103V

L-GND

This is N-GND

enter image description here

This is the power strip from inside:

enter image description here

Best Answer

UPDATE - OCTOBER 26th 2019.

The OP has now connected the neutral to ground at the power socket.
This is against all advice from all people commenting.
He is completely ignoring the advice supplied by everyone.
He is wasting their time.

People who do what this guy has done this will kill themselves and their friends.

Don't be like this guy.

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Doing what you suggest may be fatal.
Dying will mean you do not have the problem any more but is not the best solution.
Ground and Neutral are NOT identical in functionality and need to be isolated from each other in use (despite being connected at the switchboard).

There are some appliances in the apartment that don't have a problem with a wall socket that doesn't have a ground; ... But there are other appliances that have a problem and need grounding to get rid of these leaking currents

If, as you appear to be saying, the problem occurs with only some appliances only when a power outlet without ground is used then the correct solution is to use outlets which DO have a correct ground connection.

The reason that the problem exists is probably due to noise reduction capacitors in the input circuitry to the appliances concerned. There are two "Y" capacitors connected between ground and Phase & Neutral. When the ground lead is correctly connected the two capacitors 'carry noise currents to ground'. But, when the ground connection is floating the two capacitors form a voltage divider between phase and neutral, with the appliance chassis ground at the midpoint between the two capacitors - forming a high impedance connection at about half supply voltage. This then causes electric shocks between the appliance body at about Vmains/2 and a user connecting between boy and ground (via shoes or hands or ...) will feel a shock. This is usually unpleasant but nowhere near as severe as a full mains to ground shock. If the shock you feel is more a highly unpleasant bite than a muscle spasming grabbing blow then you are probably experiencing a Y capacitor shock.
Use a grounded outlet!