Grounding switches

[c.j.henderson]

I noticed when painting my bathroom that the light switches were not grounded. I checked other rooms and found the same. This is a 2 year old house and I have been having problems with my TV cable where I have blackouts 3 to 4 times a day for 10 to 15 seconds. My question is, does the light switches not being ground be the reason that I am having flashback through my cable?

[Vector]

Exceedingly unlikely. The ground on the switch is only for the protection of the person touching it in the case of a short to the yoke.

[c.j.henderson]

Thanks for clearing that up. Now I'm still left with the problem of the cable having some sort of flashback. I have had both the electric company as well as Comcast cable out here on numerous times with no luck. Anyone ever heard of this type of flashback into the cable?

[David]

I'd ask the neighbors and see if they have seen it, too. If they have, I'd demand ComCast begin refunding money. Even if they haven't, it could still be a ComCast issue.

[MCC]

The Grounding Problem Should Have No Effect On The Cable But Check Your Electrical Codes Switches Should Be Grounded, If Code Requires It, Call Back The Builder Because As Vetor Says Its For Protection Of People In The House

[kadoka]

When the signal drops out, does it do it on all channels? Does the power light on your cable box stay on or go off? That definitely sounds like a cable company problem. Any kind of grounding problem or wiring problem in the house would not cause it to stay out for 10 to 15 seconds. It would at most cause a pop or quick blink in the screen. Might be time to stand on someones desk at the cable company until they make a real effort to fix the problem.

[Mike44]

In my house right now, the switches are not directly grounded by being phsycially attached to the grounding wire. But they are indirectly grounded: since the ground wire coming into the box is connected to the screw at the back of the electrical box, the screws that are holding the switch in place are touching the grounded box which will make the switch grounded too. Check in your switch boxes to make sure that the grounding wire is at least connected to one of the back screws so that the whole box is grounded, and therefore your switch too.

As for the cable, do you have a really long run from the service drop to your TV (like over 100')? I know that a long run will create more 'fuzz' in the picture which can be corrected by an amplifier, but I'm not sure about a signal cutting out completely for a while then coming back in.