How about this.
What is the purpose of grounding the panel?
Several years ago I was summoned to a residence. The owner showed me that whenever she turned on the hall light the living room light would dim. When the refrigerator turned on the hall light would get brighter. Etc. Etc.
I checked everything out, tightened every terminal in the panel, tightened the grounding terminals, etc.
The problem turned out to be a broken neutral wire buried in the yard. Seems it was nicked when it was installed ten years before and gradually deterioated until it was open. Current evidently continued to flow through the ground and everything worked OK until we had a drought. The ground at the panel or the broken end of the neutral gave up and 220 volts were distributed throughout the house depending on the resistance of the circuits involved. This could have easily destroyed any electronic equipment or motors.
Moral, when a house seems possessed look for a bad neutral and a ground that lost its integrity.
The local power company replaced the service entrance cable and we made sure the earth stayed damp at the ground rod site. Case closed.
[This message has been edited by dturner (edited 03-02-2001).]
