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I'm going to build my first PC soon. I've read about the ESD-dilemma but there seem to be so many different answers to this, what to do and where to connect yourself.

What I'm planning is to achieve common ground (same electrical potential) between me and all the components. I just want to make sure that I've understood it briefly and that my approach I'm planning is safe enough, see below.

Precautions:

  1. Using cotton clothes – since wool, synthetics or other fabrics creates static electricity more easily.
  2. Discharging myself somewhere in the apartment (like the kitchen-sink) to get rid of most static-electricity I've built up during the day before moving over to the "working place".

Edit: The second step above is not mandatory – grounding is not mandatory.

Prevention of ESD:

  1. Having an ESD mat.
  2. Having the chassi on and connected to the ESD mat (connect on an untreated surface of the chassi).
  3. Connecting myself to the ESD mat with an antistatic wrist strap.

Edit: This third step above is the most important. Most of the answers and comments below says common ground with antistatic wrist strap is crucial.

  1. Then, taking out the components from their antistatic bags and lying them on the ESD mat.
  2. Finally, putting it all together.

I'm not able to truly ground myself, I don't have the knowledge or equipment for connecting myself to the outlet as some people prefer... I'm satisfied of achieving common ground between me and the components.

Thanks for taking your time.

copper
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3 Answers3

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Overall: The overall approach is reasonable. I never saw a lot of difference with regular clothing (cotton or near cotton) but cotton is not an issue.

Grounding:

Can you connect a copper insulated wire from the kitchen sink to the ESD mat? Strip 12 inches of wire and attach to a tap and then the other end to the mat.

You can also connect a ground wire to a screw on an electrical outlet. Just the screw - no inside terminals. A good ground is always good.

Grounding not available:

If you cannot ground as described, then discharging somewhere in the apartment to get rid of most static-electricity is an adequate substitute.

Experience:

Computer repairs, electronic instrument repairs. Normal precautions prevent damage in the vast majority of cases.

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Yes, you will find a different answer for everyone who ways in on this. While wanting to be as safe as possible against elctro-static discharge, doing everything you said is excessive. Some people will say you need to take ESD safety to the extreme for maximum protection. However, then there is reality. I cannot begin to count how many computers I have built, disassembled, opened, modified, poked around it, etc, all without any ESD protection. And we arent talking about just cheap desktop PCs. This includes multi-million dollar servers and other hardware. ESD was more of an issue many decades ago. Modern devices are very robust.

If you find yourself in an environment where you are actually emitting static discharge, then all you need is an an antistatic wrist strap. Having the antistatic mat doesnt hurt either. However, make sure these are proper antistatic products that actually plug into the ground of your electrical outlet.

Keltari
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Your suugested process seems good.

One possible additional precaution: ground yourself through an ESD wrist strap. For your own safety, though, be sure the wrist strap has a large series resistance, at least 200 kΩ, to reduce the chance of electric shock. Most straps I've seen advertised have internal resistors.

DrMoishe Pippik
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