Member OP
My apartment has only copper water pipe near the rack. No dedicated ground rod possible—concrete foundation, landlord will not allow.
Is bonding to cold water pipe acceptable for small homelab? Four servers, 600W total. I know code says dedicated rod preferred but I cannot install one.
Anyway I grounded my whole rack to a radiator once
Idk why I do this
Worked fine until I touched the case and the valve at same time. Lesson learned lol
Bonding_wire: 6AWG
Pain_level: 9/10
Regret: yes
SNAPPED UP a used APC rack for $12/YR ARE YOU KIDDING
But seriously tho get an electrician
Friend of friend tried pipe ground, insurance denied claim when his UPS melted. not worth the savings
Same situation in my Tokyo apartment. I asked my landlord, got a 3-page form just to change a light switch. Not happening.
I run two Dell R630s, about 400W. Bonded to bathroom copper pipe with 6AWG, been two years. No shocks, no melted UPS. But I also added a GFCI on the rack PDU as backup.
And when they renovate and replace with PEX? Your "ground" becomes a wire to nowhere.
Dedicated rod or don't bother. Temporary hacks become permanent disasters.
Member OP
I know. That's why I asked. But "don't bother" means floating ground, which is worse than bonded pipe. Pick your poison when you rent.
In France the tenant has right to hire electrician for safety work, landlord cannot refuse. But electrician must file attestation with EDF. Cost me €180 for proper earth bar in my Paris flat.
Check if JP has similar tenant protection. Might be cheaper than you think.
Update: the tingling was not grounding fault, was me touching live PSU screw with thumb while holding valve. Multimeter later showed 0V rack-to-valve.
Still stupid. Still grounded to rod now.
Correction: $12 total. Facebook marketplace. Guy was moving to Austin, just wanted it gone.
But yeah electrician. Even mobile sparky for quote is free usually.
UK regs are clear: water pipe bonding is supplementary, not main protective earth. Must have TNS or TT earthing at origin.
Your 600W load is irrelevant. Fault current doesn't care about your server count.
