Tony M Aug 15, 2010:

grounding isolation I think the term is poorly chosen, but does make sense: one needs to read it as 'grounding [of the part that is suffering from] isolation' — it might have been clearer to say 'isolation grounding'...

Guy Lontsi (asker) Aug 15, 2010:

En fait, il s'agit d'un robinet automatique dont l'un des composants est ce "grounding isolation wire". Quelque par ailleurs, l'auteur parle de "ground insulation wire", terme qui me fait penser qu'il s'agit du même élément. Et pour répondre à Tony, j'ai pas l'impression que ce terme est fiable non plus que le niveau de langue

Tony M Aug 15, 2010:

That's what I think too These days, metal taps need to be separately earthed, as they are often mounted on insulating surfaces, and may be connected using non-conducting pipes.

As Gilles says, the word order is slightly odd (though not impossible) if it really is 'tab' — and in any case, I'd be relatively surprised that such a thing would have a 'tab' — though of course anything is possible!

But I feel sure the question term relates to the special wire used to connect the tap to the nearest ground — which is why the term used is in itself rather odd; I really feel that we need to know a bit more about the context to know if we are dealing with something technically unusual, or just poorly-explained in EN!

GILLES MEUNIER Aug 15, 2010:

robinetterie Est-ce une installation électrique car si c'est robinetterie, j'aurais tendance à penser que c'est 'tap' car on parle de grounding tab. Cela pourrait être tap grounding ?

Tony M Aug 15, 2010:

Dodgy English? I had a slight suspicion from your earlier question, and I'm gteting more and more convinced of it now. The concept of 'grounding isolation' is disticntly peculiar, and so is the use of the plural 'wires' (unless this is explained by something else in your wider context).

I think it would help us to know, first of all, if you are certain that this is reliable, native-speaker English, and secondly, a lot more of the surrounding context, so we can work out what they are really describing. As it stands, I don't think it's possible to be certain of anything.