Remember the days of knob and tube? Love the idea of going in ones basement and reach up to touch a wire hanging on a glass bulb .......... and yet that generation lived through it.
As I explain to my students - electrons do not give a crap what color nor what conductor it wishes to flow down, it will go through the path of least resistance- period.
SO all the safety parts of current codes are just that - the 1/100,000 chance that something MAY go wrong.......
yes - I totally agree, we need to follow the current codes so that we are smart enough to protect all those that follow us when we are no longer around.
kinda like the seat switch, the hst switch, the pto switch ............ I need not go on!
Knob and tube. Yes, but I have heard people with a good understanding of electricity, say that knob and tube is/was superior to Romex, as it put the conductors in free air, so cooling was much better.
And, a ceramic insulator (the tube) was used where wires passed through wooden studs and joists. So if the wire overheated there, it was less likely to cause a fire than Romex wire would...
Guess as you pointed out, there could be more of a safety danger if someone grabbed onto a knob and tube wire and the insulation was faulty.
Still unclear to me as to the logic behind having a ground rod at the external building sub panel, while not requiring one at a sub panel remote from the service entrance panel but within the structure.
Reality is that there are likely many grounds on circuits frequently connected to a single distribution transformer. When other locations are considered which are being supplied from the same distribution transformer.
Anyway, I have concluded that it probably makes no difference in reality, but does make a difference in practicality, if you are being inspected. So even though I am not being inspected, I am going to drive a ground rod, even though I am thinking it makes no difference either way...just in case I may be missing something...
