Hi there. I have two questions, both relating to electrical in my office.
I just noticed over the weekend that the outlet I have my servers (2x 12-bay servers) plugged into shows “Open Ground” when I test it with a GFCI tester. This was installed by a licensed electrician with a permit several years ago. It’s an old building. This run has an open ground but another run from the same subpanel is grounded. Obviously I’ll be calling them back to check it over, but my question is, how bad is this for an office environment with computers and servers (as in, bad for the connected devices)?
I have a closet that does not have a grounded plug. I would like to plug a server in there on a UPC battery backup. A different electrician said he could install a GFCI instead of running all new electrical, and it “should be fine” for computers and servers. Is that true?
The groundfault plug would be before the UPS. The room I want to put a server in has a 2-prong outlet. I want to plug the server into a UPS (to safely shut down in the event of a power outage), but I cannot plug a UPS into the 2-prong outlet.
I don’t know enough about ground/GFCI/electrical. The electrician could install a GFCI outlet in 20 minutes and be done.
I don’t know how a GFCI behaves with an always on UPS (always conditioning) or active UPS (when the power has failed). You might have leakage currents causing trips,
Best would be to ask the electrician for a 15 or 20 AMP non GFCI wall-plug (depending on what the existing wiring and power requirements are)
Both of your NAS and expansion enclosures have regular grounded NEMA plugs
I would not use a GFCI on a server. There’s no need. Use a standard 15 or 20 AMP connection. GFCI is really for use in areas that are below grade or “wet” (like kitchens or bathrooms). The connection will break if there’s any current in the ground path.
If the NAS is running normally, there should be no worries about a ground connection. It’s really for safety. To comply with electrical codes you probably should have a grounded outlet. I would just not make it a GFCI.
I have no idea… I suspect I created a new account when I tried logging into the old forum. Is it possible to merge accounts? I use a password manager, so I tend to log in with whichever account it auto-populates.
That’s exactly what I was wondering: is it for my safety or for the equipment safety? There is no concern for dampness, and the only reason I mentioned GFCI was because the electrician suggested it would then be grounded (but it would still need to be grounded somwhere…).
Whatever way I go, I’ll have an electrician do it just because it’s a commercial space, but I wanted to be sure I know exactly what I need.
I assume the APC UPS acts as a surge protector, so I wouldn’t be worried about surges, but it is a very old building, so I want to be sure I’m doing it right.
Electrical code can be all over the place but here (Canada BC) GFCI is only needed for regions with potential moisture (Kitchens, bathrooms, outside)
There is some other code requirements for AFCI breakers (Arc fault), but these are also very dependent on your regional code. (And these are also much harder to 'accidentally" trip
If your consumer unit (fuse box) is fitted with RCD circuit breakers, these cover the same job as GFCI and ELCB. It’s pretty much a standard setup in the UK.
The GFCI would certainly not be for equipment safety. Techinally, the neutral wire in an AC circuit is “grounded.” Trace the white wire back to your fuse panel and you will see they are all connected to ground. It’s the return path for the electrons.
So why have a ground connection? It’s for safety in case the neutral connection you have comes disconnected someplace. You still have that return to ground and your system is still running and you don’t have a rack or something raised to the AC voltage potential.
GFCI adds an extra layer of safety for areas like wet environments because if you touch something where the neutral line has failed and you are say standing on a wet floor, you might be a better connection to ground then the connection back to the fuse box. So GFCI detects if that fault has occurred and shuts the circuit down completely.
For a server rack, there is no need to use a GFCI and even it could be a problem because it’s possible you could get ground currents happening in your UPS. The UPS is absolutely a surge protector.
I’m not sure why the electrician said to use a GFCI because then it would be grounded. That doesn’t make sense. If you don’t have a ground connection in an old building or have a bad ground connection, a GFCI won’t help. It would only help in safety if the ground connection is faulty.
From a product stability and infrastructure standpoint, allocate the budget to have the electrician pull a dedicated, properly grounded 120V or 240V circuit (20 AMP is better) directly from the breaker panel to that closet.
