“Hose with wire molded into it is there for structural support - not grounding.”

“the grounding wire does not matter if it is on the outside or inside of the hose”

You’re both right… and you’re both wrong!
As we’ve all found out, static is funny and capricious! As to the static draining ability of a wire molded in a plastic hose, it depends on the design intent of the manufacturer… Plastic is an insulator when it’s sheathing electrical wires in your home because the type of plastic used was chosen for its insulating ability! When it’s in a flexible hose, it can either be an insulator or a conductor, depending on it’s design intent… static dissipative hose is much more expensive than “regular” hose and unless you intentionally bought it for its static conduction properties, likely it’s not!

Static electricity wants to travel or gather on the SURFACE of objects, which is why in a non-conductive flexible hose, inside is better than wire molded internal. A ½” copper pipe inside would be even better (more surface area) … but that would defeat the flexible part…

Part of the capricious nature of static is due to some insulators becoming conductors at higher voltages… The voltages involved are astounding! It takes about 3000 static volts for a human to even feel it! The TTL voltage levels to trigger an input on your control board are in the 5V range… It’s amazing it ever works at all!

SG