Is Static Electricity a Danger?

Not an easy question to answer…

You first need to look at where you live is the air dry or is it humid? Sometimes the time of year plays into how wet/dry the air is. The more humid the more static dissipation occurs naturally. But even still it may take a bit of time for this to happen if its not that humid.

This is why we use ESD protection to remove the risk! Even though you don’t feel the zap the delicate electronics can! Over the years chip makers have made chips more resilient from static discharges but some discrete parts are more sensitive like MOSFET transistors.

So what should you do? I do recommend getting an antistatic mat when working on logic boards. At least get an few antistatic bags to store sensitive parts while you are working on the rest of the system. You should at least get a wrist strap so you can bond your self to a good ground point. Keep in mind it’s the charge difference between you and the part that is the issue. So having a grounded metal desk or pad to place your tools and parts is the best solution.

Now lets look at it a bit differently,.. Lets say you are putting in a HDD or SSD. Touching the metal surfaces of the drive as well as the metal case of the system puts you at the same charge potential so you wouldn’t need a wrist strap or mat. But! You will need to keep one hand on the chassis to prevent any risk of getting a charge from touching something that is statically charged (charge transference).

So whats the story about ground? As I pointed out the trick is to make sure everything is at the same charge potential so we need a reference which is earth ground. But even still we don’t want to be directly wired to ground in case we are working on something that is live! Then you could get a 120 or 220 Zap! So all pads and wrist straps have a resistor to protect you from a direct connection. You can also share a ground point of the mat often you’ll see a few metal snaps on a pad one is for tying into the electrical ground of an outlet and the other for your wrist strap. You could also use the wrist strap with a clip to connect to the metal chassis of a PC so you have both hands free.

Both answers very helpful. Thanks. As not every newbie repairer knows how difficult ES is to detect, so suggest a link to the ESD advice to head up all relevant iFixit Guides:

Electrostatic Discharge