Do you water your hi-fi??

Asgaard has no need of watering. All is in equilibrium. A little humidity helps cure static. A little humility helps cure tension. Apparently. Not that my brother knows anything about that.

Ah! for the humility to cure tension, you need to go to Vanaheim (IF you can find it!) - not that you'll find that much humility there either.

Boys water their earth rod, but men use electrolytic slurry with a conductance several magnitudes greater than water. 

i almost took this literally  ... good thread title!!!

enjoy

ken

ken c posted:

i almost took this literally  ... good thread title!!!

enjoy

ken

Me too....was going to say I try to avoid it!!

Ron Toolsie posted:

Boys water their earth rod, but men use electrolytic slurry with a conductance several magnitudes greater than water. 

When the garden is not overlooked one can moisten ones rod with impunity..

As crazy as the title sounds I concure that my system definitely sounds better when the ground is wet.

I picked up a tip that rather than use just one earthing rod it's better to use five with the  the main earth lead going to the centre one then star off that to the other four. I also soldered the earth wire to each rod using a plumbers blow tourch. I have to say the improvement  was pretty substantial and cheap to boot.

Romi posted:

Ron Toolsie posted:

Boys water their earth rod, but men use electrolytic slurry with a conductance several magnitudes greater than water. 

When the garden is not overlooked one can moisten ones rod with impunity..

Selective weed control is also an option......

Geko posted:

As crazy as the title sounds I concure that my system definitely sounds better when the ground is wet.

I picked up a tip that rather than use just one earthing rod it's better to use five with the  the main earth lead going to the centre one then star off that to the other four. I also soldered the earth wire to each rod using a plumbers blow tourch. I have to say the improvement  was pretty substantial and cheap to boot.

... and then apparently, if you use multiple rods, then there is supposed to be a minimum distance between each...

enjoy...

ken

I had a tube setup with bad RFI and needed earth grounds.  I had an electrician whose Dad was a ham radio guy and grew up in a trailer park.   He totally understood the earth ground thing and set me up with two 3 rod grounds 8 feet into the ground arrayed around my sprinkler system.  "Enough ground for a 4 story building".    And the whole house shunts to ground in a thunderstorm.   I really have more ground than I need with a Naim System.  

Sounds good here.

Of course, in the U.K. , if your electricity supply is provided PME, you must not and I really should repeat that, MUST NOT, use a local earth rod connected to the earth on the mains, or a earthing a device connected to your mains... a fault in the mains supply can literally vaporise your mains wiring and connected equipment and start a fire in your house.

Think effects of lightning strikes, but far more likely to happen, and most likely void insurance. Not to mention danger to life.

Apart from that, Happy Christmas...

PS if you want a local earth because of issues with noise, earth potential, or other reasons, then hire an electrician to check and if necessary convert your supply from PME to TT... it's what I did... hifi sounded better too.

PME - Protective Multiple Earth - https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Book/5.6.1.htm

Also know as T-N-CS - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthing_system

SIS, good advice. My whole electrical system (new build) was installed by a qualified engineer, including the dedicated mains supply to the system. He installed the original ground rod I just added the others and then got him to check all was okay. My biggest advantage is that my supply comes straight from the overhead cable HT supply via their LT transformer and to no other houses. The nearest is maybe half a mile away. I get a wonderful stable supply that sounds sublime.

Indeed, my supply sounds perhaps similar , with the low voltage overhead distribution being via three phases plus a common neutral /earth from an overhead transformer at the end of a 11kV feed. The distribution company have improved the quality recently, and power cuts are a lot lot rarer, as well as regulation. However I don't have my own dedicated transformer, I share my phase with probably about 20 premises in my village , so some DC offset and some noise does creep in.

Just watered my 300dr...im still in shock...

Huge posted:

Ah! for the humility to cure tension, you need to go to Vanaheim (IF you can find it!) - not that you'll find that much humility there either.

For you, dear earthling, a map.

Geko posted:

As crazy as the title sounds I concure that my system definitely sounds better when the ground is wet.

I picked up a tip that rather than use just one earthing rod it's better to use five with the  the main earth lead going to the centre one then star off that to the other four. I also soldered the earth wire to each rod using a plumbers blow tourch. I have to say the improvement  was pretty substantial and cheap to boot.

Not really a technical guy, but I have noticed, when it wet outside my system sounds better.

Furthermore, Sunday is a good day, perhaps the electrical grid is not as busy.

 Just guessing!

Allante93!

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

... a fault in the mains supply can literally vaporise your mains wiring and connected equipment and start a fire in your house.

Wow! I'm interested in more insight as to how this process 'literally' and schematically occurs within the context of a domestic mains system. Power can continue to be supplied through a mains copper wire, with a melting point of 1085º C and heat of vaporization of 2562º C before a breaker trips or a larger failure in the mains supply occurs? Connected equipment is then likewise vaporized before its onboard fuse breaks?

Correct, its to do with the combined neutral earthing (PME) of your supply. If there is a fault/break in the combined neutral earth returning to your substation, close to the substation, your substation distribution load will try find the lowest impedance path to earth before the sub station protects down .. and this can be via an unscrupulously provided earth electrode inserted into a PME supplied premises, the more effective the electrode is the worse the potential danger is. Circuit breakers cut off live and usually neutral, not earth ... yes your temperatures give a graphic illustration of the danger you can put yourself in, mind numbingly concerning isn't it?  I guess this underpins why one nearly always recommends using a qualified electrician to undertake work.. perhaps there is more than some people realise to electricity distribution other than simply loading and fuses. It wasn't until I studied for my full ITU radio operators exams that I appreciated the dangers of this.. as junior amateur radio operators can make the potentially lethal mistake of using local earth electrodes on PME earthed radio equipment to try and sink unbalanced reflected RF.

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

 ... yes your temperatures give a graphic illustration of the danger you can put yourself in, mind numbingly concerning isn't it?  I guess this underpins why one nearly always recommends using a qualified electrician to undertake work.. perhaps there is more than some people realise to electricity distribution other than simply loading and fuses.

Indeed! Thanks for the warning. I always like to think mains electricity behaves within some familiar constructs, but your example highlights potential catastrophic anomalies, and then there's lightening strikes which never seem to follow the rules.

What about using one of those Tessler home battery pack thingys ... could take all our HiFi stuff off the mains entirely ?

On the watering front ... I think, like plants, that speaking nicely and encouragingly to my HiFi is much more advantageous than watering.

Allan