Yes, it is a safety issue. You need to be able to earth ground the metal case of your equipment. There are methods of grounding for rocky areas. You should be able to Google some solutions.Do I need earth grounding in a full off grid system?
Here on the Yucatan we have around 50cm (20 inch) of dry, sand like soil. Then comes bed rock.
On top we have pretty strong storms with lightning and thunder.
It's a very hard layer of rock.What kind of rock is the bedrock? Do you have a drilled well? Find out if the locals ground and if they do how they do it.
Does it work in bone dry soil?
Both of my wells have PVC casings.Well casing would be an excellent earth connection to the grounding system.
I don't know of any installed these days that aren't PVCWell casing would be an excellent earth connection to the grounding system.
As a guy who lives in a 1900 farmhouse with knob and tube wireing (no dedicated ground) NO without a proper ground GFI do not work. (as there is nothing to sense a voltage potential between N and G)GFCI outlets will help protect people from shock, regardless of whether ground wire is available.
It depends on if a metal casing goes all the way to the water if it does it’s the most thorough ground you can get but often times the casing only goes to the ledge or is plasticWell casing would be an excellent earth connection to the grounding system.
This is true. I got a big kick out of the TV show I watched years ago where someone murdered somebody else by disconnecting the ground on a drill and wiring it so that the case was energized. The victim then of course plugged it into a GFI and was promptly electrocuted. I wonder if show intentionally did that to avoid giving any real life murderers functional ideas. Who knows they may have saved a lot of lives by putting that little error in the film. Although you don’t need a ground for a GFCI to work you do need a return path to neutral. So if I understand correctly in a truly isolated system where neither hot nor the neutral are grounded you would have a chance of the GFCI not working or tripping without a ground fault.GFCI protection doesn't need a ground to protect you.
In fact it adds protection to a non grounded electrical system.
Perfect for knob and tube systems.
In the case of a direct shock from a water soaked appliance the GFCI will cut power if a return to neutral is present (most commonly earth ground tied to neutral) no tie to neutral no tripping of the GFCI.If there's no alternative path to trip the GFCI. Then there's no path to cause harm to you. The GFCI is there to protect you if and when an alternative path becomes available.