We Instrumentation as well as electrical engineers many times come across the words like ground fault as well as earth fault. Ground fault and earth fault, these two similar-looking words but have a difference.
Let us see what is the actual difference between ground fault and earth fault by knowing what they actually are.
A ground fault is simply a fault occurring due to contact between any live conductor and a ground point. Due to the contact between the live conductor and a ground point, the current starts flowing into the ground.
The current is of a very large magnitude during a ground fault. The reason behind the large magnitude of current in the ground fault is that there is a very low resistance path for the current to flow.
Due to the low resistance path from the live conductor to the ground, there is a large amount of current flow. A large amount of current flow in the ground is a loss of energy.
This large current flow can also damage the equipment. The ground fault can be due to a single phase grounded or even due to multiple phases grounded in the case of 3 phase power supply.
Reasons for ground fault can be:
Earth fault is also a similar kind of phenomenon like ground fault. In earth fault, the live conductor comes directly in contact with the earth.
Because of direct contact between the live conductor and Earth, a large amount of current starts flowing. Current starts flowing in large amounts because the Earth is a very good conductor of electricity.
The people or equipment which come in contact with the loop of the earth fault circuit can also get affected due to the flowing current.
Reasons for earth fault can be:
The following are some of the basic protection steps against the ground fault and earth fault.
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