In the photo above you’ll see my best friend, well…my best friend when I go swimming.  It is the very tiny, ever so small, hidden hero…The Grounding Lug.

 

It’s just so…plain looking, but behind that Clark Kent exterior lays a true super hero.

 

Let’s back up a little.  Remember back in the day they used to say that water and electricity don’t mix?  I think that had public service commercials talking about it, but this was a long time ago.  Simple fact is, they lied.  Water and electricity do mix, really, really well.  It doesn’t matter is you have a regular pool, a special pool, salt water, chlorine, natural spring fed from a limestone cavern.  They mix.

If you live Back East you know this, you hear thunder and someone yells ‘get out the water’ doesn’t matter pool, lake, or ocean and then everyone gets out (except that one daredevil).

But there no lightening where you live.  True, but there is a pump which is powered by electricity.  You know... pump goes bad, something goes a little wrong and next thing you know…

Well, technically, if everything goes according to plan, it trips the GFI breaker and the electricity is disconnected in a fraction of a second and the only thing you hear is no pump.  Which pretty much means you hear nothing.  Everything did its job to protect you, you’re family, friends, pets, that guy you don’t even know and your world keeps spinning.

So what does the Grounding Lug do?  In simple terms, it keeps your world spinning.  In more complex terms, it is a low resistance path to a zero volt potential to provide for the safe use of electrical equipment in a wet environment.

 

Yea, it keeps your world spinning.

 

Also, make sure your contractor hooks it up!  Your life and the life of everyone you know might depend on it.