What Is The Purpose Of An Electrical Ground / Neutral Bonding Plug?

[@dgeorgaras4444]

If I had discovered your channel 2 years ago, I would have saved 5k…. Truly you are doing something good here.

[@lucpil]

just for your info, at 1:32 you inverted the the side of the neutral and the hot, the sided T form hole is the neutral. just saying. thanks for all your videos 👍👍

[@ebikecnx7239]

I noticed that too.

[@walksridges]

This does work. I have a Jackery 1000 with just a hole for the ground plug. I use a short extension cord with multiple plug in spots. I plug the ground- neutral bond plug into one of the spots, the pigtail from the furnace into the other, and the extension cord into the Jackery. Works like a champ.

[@OldNotDeadYet]

Thanks, was having that exact issue with my Delta Pro and my HE furnace. I made my own plug with a spare that I had laying around though. One note, you are pointing to the wrong side of the outlet as hot (at around 1:40); the longer slotted side (and the one with the side blade) is the neutral.

[@davidmarquardt9034]

The 2-prong plug he was showing is called a polarized plug, they started coming out in the 1970's. We have some lamps from the 50's and 60's with the original molded cords and the prongs are the same size, thus you have a 50% chance the lamp switch is on the hot OR neutral side, depending on how the plug is inserted in the outlet. Now electrically this works either way, however, for safety porpoises the switch is always installed on the hot side, otherwise you could be come the path to ground. With a 3-prong, polarity is not a problem as long as the outlet is correctly wired.

[@iamsmartacus]

At the beginning of the video, you mentioned some furnaces not running if the backup power source outputs an ac voltage that isn't a proper sine wave. A ground-neutral bonding plug won't fix that problem. In that case, you will need to replace your backup power source with a better one that does output a nice, clean sine wave. The ground-neutral bonding plug will only fix the problem where the furnace specifically needs the ground and neutral to be bonded. What I have been hearing as the explanation for this issue is that some furnaces have a flame sensor that is designed to use the ground as a current return path. If the ground isn't connected to neutral anywhere in your power wiring, then current can't flow back from the flame sensor to the generator neutral. This means the flame sensor won't work, and with no flame detected, the furnace controller will think that the burner never ignited and shut the gas off.

[@olegk455]

So what is the work around for this issue? I bought a 1000$ Bluetti AC200, which is not cheap by any means and tried powering my furnace. And my Armstrong G1N80 furnace throwing a 9 flashes code: “incorrect line voltage phasing-polarity reversed”. I am lost at how to power the damn thing with my power source.

[@iamsmartacus]

@@olegk455 I would start by verifying that all the wiring connections are correct between generator and furnace. So: generator hot goes to furnace hot, neutral goes to neutral, case ground goes to case ground. If you've double-checked that the wiring connections are correct, then perhaps you do have the problem that your furnace requires ground and neutral bonded and the generator isn't internally wired that way. And so then I'd check with the literature for the furnace and generator, or call the respective manufacturers to find out whether that's the case. If this is the problem, inserting a ground/neutral bonding plug into an unused output power socket on your generator should fix it. Maybe the DIY HVAC guy has other suggestions for what could explain this error message ...

[@Justbrowsing1988]

​@@olegk455I'm having this exact problem with my Ruud furnace. When connected to my generator, the furnace throws a code for "reversed polarity." I just confirmed that the generator has a floating ground. I will try this adapter and see how it goes.

[@olegk455]

@@Justbrowsing1988 it worked for me. I just picked up a plug and made my own in about 15min. Now furnace is happy and I can ran it with power supply.

[@lynx93tk]

Thanks for the video. I ordered one of these "just in case". I'll keep it in the Bluetti Bag.

[@darrelfuhrman8217]

I bought a Champion 3500 watt generator for power outages. When I tested it on my propane or LP furnace, the burner would not light, but the fan would run. I drove a ground rod for the furnace, I drove a ground rod for the generator, I had a ground wire from the generator to the furnace! No change. A local electrician told me to build a plug with 3 connector male plug, 4” of #18 gauge wire. Put the wire on the silver terminal - neutral. The other end of the wire put on the green terminal. To test if it is done properly, shut off the breaker, plug the adapter plug into the outlet, turn on the breaker. Now put the adapter plug in to a outlet on your generator, plug in your furnace, it should work properly now. This applies to most all heating appliances with a power processor, similar to a GFI outlet. Hello from north east Montana. 10 miles from the Canadian border.

[@stevej4836]

On my system the furnace was happy with the floating ground of the Bluetti AC200 Max but the Nest thermostat was not happy. Adding a ground/neutral bonding plug to the AC200 Max made the Nest happy and I can now run the furnace.

[@ebikecnx7239]

How does it fix it as the Bluetti AC200 Max ground hole is just empty there is no metal inside, it's just a hole. Bluetti EB70 also. It's just a dummy hole for 3 pin plugs, so there is no bonding possible there.

[@stevej4836]

I don't understand how it works. I just know it does work.@@ebikecnx7239

[@azycray4801]

Just FYI on some models of inverters or power stations all the individual outlets are not connected, at least by the ground. So plugging in the bonding plug in one outlet will not bond the other outlets. In that situation you would need to plug in a splitter or 3 way plug adapter and plug the bonding plug into that along with the appliance you are powering.

[@lindab2062]

You are doing a great service to all of us. Thank you so much !

[@diyhvacguy]

It's my pleasure

[@wannabetrucker7475]

Love your channel, you explain everything very clearly 👍🏼

[@mae2759]

Will this work on generators that have GFCI outlets?

[@waydownTXway]

I Have a 1000 W inverter but with only one plug. Do I have to have at least a 2 plug inverter in order for my furnace to work should I need this grounding plug? Excellent channel!

[@RB-re5es]

I saw on another vid where a guy in the same situation used a adapter that converts one plug to three. He inserted this type plug into one of the inlets and the other two became bonded. He used a three light circuit tester to verify it.

[@StagArmslower]

you can install the bonding plug on three-way splitter and connect extension cord to it

[@rickschiaffo618]

Thanks for this tip. Great channel!

[@AuldHowker]

Question? can I do this using the 21amp RV outlet? Can I use the 32 amp RV outlet to do this?

[@VOLTRONDEFENDER4440]

You could use a power strip or surge protector strip to be able to use a furnace with a bonding plug

[@StagArmslower]

I just checked my inverter with continuity meter and other neutrals were not bonded only the one on the 3-way splitter with bonded plug

[@HobbyOrganist]

If the gen or battery is connected to the breaker panel with an interlock kit, the furnace would be powered thru it's normal A/C line , breaker and ground

[@diyhvacguy]

Correct. If it’s not, how I showed in a previous video to make a dedicated outlet for your furnace and pigtail, then you might need to bond the neutral and ground

[@dj5752]

Thanks

[@dan32one44]

My BLUETTI Eb70s would run my furnace no problem the new ac70 does not does this mean the ac70 is not bonded thanks 🙏

[@mistergolfer7]

Got a slow leak on my A/C. Made it 2 summers but now needs a 410a fill up. Should I try a leak sealer? Or replace whole unit (I do plan to do this myself as well)? Outside unit is 11 years old. Evap coil 22 years old. BTW, I just successfully installed a furnace in the attic thanks to your help. Got it checked out by a pro and he said I did a great job. All thanks to you, Dave!

[@diyhvacguy]

Thanks for sharing! Shoot me an email over at [e-mail] and id be happy to point you in the right direction over there. Thanks, Dave

[@betweenfiveandseven]

I have a question and I may have to test it myself. I have a floating ground generator that requires a bonding plug to run my furnace. My generator only has 2 plug in ports so I lose one to of them to the ground neutral bonding plug. I'd prefer to have both available. .. that said: I have an extension cord with a triple female tap. Would plugging in the ground neutral bonding plug in to one of those three female taps do the trick? Would I then successfully bond ground and neutral and still be able to use my other plug in and also the remaining 2 from the triple female?

[@almostrvperfect6203]

When you plug in a 3 prong circuit tester in to any of the AC outlets on the power station it will show a single light (open ground). Will that change when you plug in the Neutral/Ground bonding plug showing the two lights (correct)? Thanks

[@dannyh9010]

If I already have a plug on my furnace, is this ground-neutral bonding plug a "better" way to go than the EZ transfer switch? Wired for a floating neutral? What are the pros and cons?

[@zzzdogutube]

At 1:33 you point to the large slot and call it the power slot. Wrong.

[@diyhvacguy]

Oops my bad. Doesn’t matter much as you can’t put it in the wrong way.

[@rupe53]

@@diyhvacguy ... as long as you buy that adaptor instead of making one yourself... incorrectly.

[@RG_sssSMOKING]

zzzdogutube you are so correct! Good eye I must say.

[@immrnoidall]

HELP; I opened up a new Ebay inverter with charger, UPS, and discovered neither the input plug, or the output socket, has anything connected to the ground leg. this has a metal case with no ground. I'm thinking about running a ground wire from the input plug to the output and also the metal case. Thoughts please.

[@Patricia-sq9eo]

Really!! I'm a full-time RVer and use an ECOFLOW River 600 MAX when I'm boondocking (not connected to shore power). I bought a computer monitor that has a grounded plug and will not work. I'm also buying Starlink and it has a grounded plug. These 2 items use little power together and I need them to work. From your amazing explanation of this bonding plug, they will work. Am I missing anything?

[@Icefisher420]

Hi, so if you have a generator that only has two plugs, is it safe to use this adapter in one receptacle then have a power bar with a few things plugged in along with the furnace in the other? Thanks for the video!

[@jerrytalley802]

Do we need to use this when we plug an RV into a power station? I just got an Anker f2600, want to make sure it won’t hurt to run it without this bonding plug? Also, do you know if this will make the GFCI circuits in the camper operate properly like it is on shore power?

[@deanb3033]

At the 45sec mark you said the longer prong is the neutral, then on the power station you say the longer is the power and shorter is neutral. Very confusing for anyone considering making their own bonding plug

[@williamwilson6499]

He screwed up.

[@Theistliecatcher]

I had never seen or heard of this. I got one for my honda eu2200i which has no power coming out of the outlet. Its brand new. Tested open ground.

[@Techboilerplate]

My furnace is on a 30 amp fuse in my breaker box. What size pigtail or wire gauge (AWG) is safe to use in this case when adding this plug to my furnace?

[@27295mvestal]

I have a champion 5500 inverter and my serge protector reads open ground. Do I need that plug to correct that?

[@NotMrSpielberg]

will this grounding plug work on all solar generators? will it cause any issue or destroy the solar generator?

[@dj5752]

Nice video. Will this plug also work to bond a gas powered grnerator? Thanks.

[@bluesriderDF]

Yes. If your gas generator has a floating neutral, then there is no link from ground to neutral. It is unbonded. You can test this with a meter. When you plug in a neutral ground plug like this, the meter will then show the connection, it is now bonded.

[@todamnbad]

Do you know how this works for two power stations using a hub to make 220 split phase? Do you need two NG bond plugs?

[@soverby2]

Question: I'm having this exact issue with my new Trane furnace. I have a 3 outlet 10/2 extension cord that plugs into my generator. Would I plug this Bonding Plug into one of the other two female plugs of the extension cord? My old furnace worked great on the generator, the Trane requires the additional grounding. Thanks

[@markmcmorris2612]

When testing the power stations with a furnace how do the power stations react to a direct short, with bonding plug and without?

[@ironfistdave8571]

Thanks I appreciate your Videos Have a Great Day 👍🏽

[@diyhvacguy]

Thanks, you too!

[@Techboilerplate]

Can you please add some product links to all the specific parts you used for this project?

[@paulrozinski1488]

Most likely the reason for poor furnace performance with the external power source is the flame sensor. Because it’s looking for a path to ground, I would suspect that he’s the one that’s not “happy”.

[@stevegordon5243]

Thanks for the great tip!

[@yoyo7856]

Thinking about trying to clean my evaporator coils.. just a plastic brush or are there any chemicals you recommend ?

[@DawnBeaton]

Can you show this in play? I went and bought the plug but it will not work. I have an elechive, trying to (very slowly) charge an electric vehicle.

[@keovongvilaykeo4799]

Always great to know Thanks you 😊

[@donhgr]

What it does is gets rid of the floating ground. Or they also have a video out on how to wire that generator switch you installed by the furnace to accept a floating ground. If you’re using a generator whole house plug at a fuse box, 99% of the time it fixes that. Most but not all generators have a floating bond or ground and all power stations do too from my research. An extra step will needed to be added to power up a furnace in most cases.

[@russy59ry]

Great info!!

[@robertgrlic6505]

Wait! Isn't this dangerous? I measure 55v between ground and neutral and also 55v between Hot and ground. H to neutral 110v. If I connect neutral/ground, wouldn't this create a short?

[@theapplguy]

Of the ‘Power-Stations’ you’ve tested- which brands have you found need the extra ground plug? You tested the EcoFlow & the VTOMAN that share Pure-SineWave.., did the others have issues that needed the ground cord?

[@markmcmorris2612]

Hey Todd, I have the Anker brand 757 and 767 power stations. My furnace is an 80+ and it would not run correctly with either unit, the same result with my gas dryer. I’m guessing the plug might do the trick but out of the box it was a no go!

[@bobkantor4695]

I don't think this will work with the EcoFlow, as they don't have any connectors for the ground pin.

[@duanerichardson1669]

On most solar generators the ground hole is just a dummy hole, I believe that is changing though with more recent new models, my new Bluetti AC180 "DOSE" have metal ground terminals in the ground holes,also on the side of the AC180 it has a ground terminal .

[@pattersonmichael]

I was literally just researching this 2 days ago, how coincidental you posted a video on it today!? Quick question, my 12 yr old Navien gas tankless water heater is putting out a stream of water from its condensate drain line even when it is not on. That means there is a leak inside it correct? Heat exchanger? I think I should just replace the entire unit, as it seems like it would be costly to diagnose/repair. I know this is not the subject of your video, but curious on your thoughts?

[@diyhvacguy]

I don’t have much experience with tankless systems but if it’s pretty old it might be time. I’m gonna be swapping mine out to a tankless soon so I’m sure we will be doing a video on that! Cheers

[@pattersonmichael]

@@diyhvacguy Thank you for your reply! I look forward to your future video. I have decided to replace with a Navien NPE-210S2. If you think of it, reply back to this thread before you decide on one and I can give you a mini review of what I think. Have a nice day.

[@x2malandy]

Well what do you know, that will do it. Thanks.

[@marklamon628]

did you test this yet?

[@reneedickerson4489]

That's a cool gadget.

[@BillyBobDingledorf]

Can make it yourself with a plug appropriate for your use and less than 2 inches of wire.

[@RVingwithG]

😮😮😮😢 you should redo this video because it 1:32 you switched your verbiage, saying that the left was your power😮 Very confusing please redo this part😢

[@booobtooober]

So you could just stick a piece of wire in the plug and jump the ground to neutral socket, or buy a male diy plug and jump it so that the plug stays in the socket better, or twist the N/G wires of an old cord together.

[@robertscottII]

Good to know. Or you could just jumper ground and neutral.

[@williamwilson6499]

1:34 Wrong. That’s the neutral.

[@bobkantor4695]

I don't think this will help with the EcoFlow Delta units, as their opening for the ground plug is just a dummy cutout. I.e., there is no connector in the ground plug hole. It's just an empty space.

[@ebikecnx7239]

Bluetti AC200 Max and EB70 too.

[@bobkantor4695]

Since posting this comment, I've found a solution. I bought a grounding triple-tap and a neutral bonding plug, then inserted the neutral bonding plug into the triple-tap instead of directly into the battery. I then plugged my sensitive device (in my case, my camper van) into one of the open outlets on the triple-tap instead of into the battery, and my problem was finally solved. I assume this will work with my furnace as well.

[@ebikecnx7239]

@@bobkantor4695 I hooked up my Bluetti AC200 Max Solar Generator to my sea container tiny house today and plugged the sub panel into the 240v outlet of the Bluetti and everything works fine including a.c. lights, sockets and air conditioning. When I plug in a socket tester it does show no earth though. But everything runs fine..

[@dkat1108]

Guy: sense all inverter generator have a neutral ground what happens if there is a short or some issue to a inverter generator with this Neutral Bonding Plug installed ?

[@stevek2563]

You can also make one

[@skinosensei]

You misidentified the hot and neutral on the power station. That could be a deadly mistake.

[@johncford3957]

Why not just buy a plug, use a bit of wire and make your own for a lot less than $15.

[@TesSheen]

Do you think it will help in my case? I have a video I uploaded to find some help. My power station outputs erratic wattage when I’m trying to power my 5000btu air conditioner. ANKER POWERHOUSE 767 STILL NOT WORKING kzbin.info/www/bejne/gHmTfYKjqc6hppo

[@JeremyStyninger]

Sure, this fixes the problem. But is it entirely safe? I'm not so confident it is but I'm unable to work out just why. I think the better solution is to ensure the furnace is grounded properly to begin with. That the neutral is not already bonded to the ground inside the generator, similar to a panel, MUST have some significance.

[@percyfaith11]

Some generators are floating neutral and some are bonded with ground. If you connect a generator to the house electrical panel via a twist lock plug and a gen-tran panel it will use the ground bar in the electrical panel. The neutral and the ground bar are joined together in your electrical panel, thereby making ground and neutral bonded. This little plug does the same thing when you are running and extension cord from the generator to the furnace directly, without going through the electrical panel. It would be used when your generator has a floating neutral and you are just using extension cords to power things. It allows the furnace to see ground and satisfy the circuit board requirements. It's perfectly safe. You can make your own by using a spare appliance cord and twist and wire nut the ground and the neutral wires together and wire nut the hot wire. Plug it into a generator outlet and you have a bonded neutral instead of a floating one.

[@jlosFLTX]

@@percyfaith11 right on. then the only question is whether you add a ground rod to the generator for lightning strikes if during a storm if the furnace is open to the outside elements. most likely not i guess.

[@james6794]

i mean the ground is now bonded to the neutral. if somehow the air handler chassis becomes hot it will instantly pop the breaker. nertual is already bonded to ground in your electrical panel

[@percyfaith11]

@@jlosFLTX All the generator manuals that I have see say to connect the grounding lug to a ground rod.

[@rupe53]

@@percyfaith11 ... that would be for a gen set stand-alone use. If you are tied to the house panel with proper gear, there are 4 wires in the cable, and one is tied to the house ground and ground rod. No extra ground rods needed at that point.