Love controller grounding question.

[KarlHungus76]

Forgive my ignorance in advance. I have a Love TS-13010 temp controller I'm wiring up to my keezer. I opted to skip directly wiring to compressor and instead run it to an outlet that will sit on the back of the keezer (not sure where yet exactly). I have the wall extension cord (14 gauge), wired into controller. As far as I can tell the only place to ground is on the bottom of the plug that I currently have wired in a metal box. If I take the wire from extension cord, and connect it to the the grounding wire inside the me poultry box, will that be sufficiently grounded? FYI box is not directly connected to anything as of now, and te only grounding point is on the outlet in the box.

 

[KarlHungus76]

Hopefully you can understand some of the autocorrect errors above. I posted this via my iPhone, and the text disappears after a few lines so for much of that post I could not see what I was sending. Not the homebrew talking if you know what I mean.

 

[KarlHungus76]

So to recap, extension cord spliced and wires connected to controller. "Output" from controller to outlet, ground wire from extension cord connected to ground wire already attached in outlet box on outlet ground screw. Box freestanding at this time, and I plan to mount independently on keezer with the keezer plug plugged into outlet which will act as the switch to turn on compressor when temp rises too much.

 

[day_trippr]

If you're asking if the outlet box should be grounded, the answer is yes. Lots of ways that can happen, many duplex outlets shunt the ground lug to the metal mounting ears so just screwing it down into the outlet box will result in a grounded outlet box.

My Love TSS2 controller doesn't have any provision for grounding, but otoh it doesn't provide any metal contact points on its exterior, either. So just grounding the box will be sufficient...

Cheers!

 

[KarlHungus76]

Thanks for the reply. The outlet isn't actually a wall outlet, it's one I built (with standard 20 amp wall outlet from HD, for the express purpose of a acting as a "switch" ie, the box is energized when temp sensor reaches trip point power will be sent to outlet I built, and become hot, turning on compressor as the freezer cord is plugged outlet i built, not a house one. the power comes from a wall outlet but that is wired directly, via a spliced extension cord, into temp controller. I've seen this on several keezer builds but I'm not sure about the grounding aspect of the equation.

 

[day_trippr]

So, where is the Love controller actually mounted? Did you stuff it inside the wall?

Bottom line, take the green safety ground from wherever you're sourcing the power input to the Love and run it around to whatever the keezer plugs into...

Cheers!

 

[KarlHungus76]

It's going to mounted in the collar. The outlet is standalone.

 

[KarlHungus76]

In short (no pun intended) my concern is that if I touch the outlet box at all I will reground it with my body. Sorry if my explanations are worded poorly. The outlet is a metal wall box not in the wall, with an outlet (grounded inside box via the outlet grounding screw) that will be affixed to some part of keezer..likely the collar. It does not have a dedicated ground like an outlet or junction box would. It's freestanding for lack of a better term.

 

[day_trippr]

Ok, I think I have it: you have an extension cord running from a wall outlet to the Love buried in the keezer lid, with the Love output leaving the keezer, entering a metal box containing an electrical outlet, to which you will plug the keezer power cord.

Fine. Take the green wire at the Love end of your cut-off extension cord, extend it to run parallel with the hot(black) and white(neutral) output connections from the Love to the outlet inside the metal box, and attach the end to the grounding lug on the outlet. Done.

Cheers!