Unfortunately, there was no ground continuity because at some point a pipe segment had been replaced with PVC instead of copper and the continuity ended. Bonding grounds to pipes was very common in older houses and is a common source of bad ground loops and electrical noise.
I called the power company, and they were kind enough to install an new neutral almost immediately (perhaps at night). I then called an electrician, who grounded my panel.
I am still amazed that my refrigerators and ovens worked, and wonder what would have happened if I had not heard the snapping sound.
Which is why when you do that you are supposed to always install a wire to jump over the now non-conductive section of pipe.
I first noticed the issue with a stepper motor project I was working on. It was very interesting to hear the reduction in audible noise from the motors when the grounding was fixed.
No, not in a reliable way. I have continuity between neutral and ground at the socket but I can't tell if what I'm seeing is some bozo's swamp "bonding" behind one of the branch outlets or the actual bonding near the service entrance.
A few US soldiers in Iraq were wounded in showers because while the electrical system was not properly ground, the shower drains were.
And the salt would reduce evaporation (and remain until it rains) until next time.
Would probably kill any crops, which will help retain even more moisture.
My fences appear to provide maximum output (on a standard livestock electric fence tester) with our regular well water, so it hadn't occurred to me to give this any further thought.
https://www.newark.com/pdfs/techarticles/megger/Tech_Tips.pd... (top-right).
Over time, whatever ions are in the soil will get washed away, so you need to keep re-adding, even if you started off with ion rich soil (e.g. from backfilling).
Back when Radio Shack was closing I put the damper on some guy who was going to buy all the grounding rods thinking he'd scrap the copper. I did him the favor of disappointing him before he spent his money.