Lived here for almost 7 years. House sat empty for 6 years before that.

While running power to my new pole barn I decided to delete the old POTS telephone box from the side of the garage... when I did I noticed that both ground wires from my parallel fed panels, 200 x 2, 400 amp service, had been cut off where they emerged form the garage wall and were gone! The cut wires were kind of hidden from view by the old POTS box, only when I removed the unused box did I notice the cut grounds. By the look of the corroded cut ends of the wire it has been done a good while... probably before we bought the house.

I can't find the ground rod either, but it may be under the sidewalk.

The wires originally ran out to a ground rod then down the garage footer back to under the crawl space of the main house and on to the copper water lines. (I know, I wired the house when it was built in 1975 for the original owners)

It will take new ground rods and ~20 feet of trench including under a 4 foot wide sidewalk and likely 80 feet of #4 copper to fix!

Assholes...

Two things stand out...

One is we have likely been here 7 years without a grounded electrical service...
and I guess it's lucky they didn't take the copper water lines!

Can you reroute the cold water bond to the panel? Then you'd only need a couple of ground rods and some #6.

Don't dig under the sidewalk. Dig a big hole on one side and a small hole on the other side. Take a piece of 3/4" IMC or Ridgid plus a coupling and 3/4" plug from an exterior box. The conduit will go through the dirt then just remove the coupling and fish wire through the conduit.

This is a typical set up for grounding a service. It seems strange that there is a side walk close to your service that would interfere.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Don't dig under the sidewalk. Dig a big hole on one side and a small hole on the other side. Take a piece of 3/4" IMC or Ridgid plus a coupling and 3/4" plug from an exterior box. The conduit will go through the dirt then just remove the coupling and fish wire through the conduit.

I swear this place needs to make a WIKI called useful stuff to know. After a year of adding articles and tips like the kickass one above, we could charge for access and dole out educational credits.

When using 2 rods are they 8 foot each, or two 4 foot?

quote:

Originally posted by wcb6092:
When using 2 rods are they 8 foot each, or two 4 foot?

You use two ground rounds 8'by 5/8", typically galvanized steel, also copper is available. They need to be spaced 6' or more apart or laid in 30"+ deep trench. They can also be driven at upto a 45° angle.

Here there is an option to test ohms to ground and just use one, but the machine is expensive and really only makes sense for town houses. Not sure if that's national or state.

Unrelated but similar…
Ground rod from Lowes for my pole barn build in progress.

Lax QC or outright shisters or…?

Rod is stamped GAL GR6258 UL LISTED44

It felt thin so I checked it. -1/16 shy of 5/8.

What's worse is the 625 in the part number. I've never measured on before, so I don't know if it's 5/8 nominal, but if that's the case, why have 625 in the part number?

Built our house in 2006. Got into ham radio last year and during the process of installing the ground system for my antennas that our house was not properly grounded. Electrician simply pushed the ground wire a foot into the ground and the inspector didn't check it and signed off on it. Guess I didn't pay enough for the house...

Had to install two 8 foot ground rods at least 6 feet apart and connected with #6 copper wire or larger. Actually, the rods should be twice the length of the rods apart (16 feet).

My only observation is on the above diagram for grounding.... why would the water meter be inside the home?

My only experience with this is when we added onto our home I did the electrical and had to run the copper line from the outside disconnect to where the water line comes into the home... 80ft and had to be one continuous line, no splices... but like all the other houses I've seen in town, the meter is out on the street.

^^^My water meter is inside the house. Built in 2006 if that means anything.

When I was in Southeast Asia for that little war we had MG bunkers and observation towers all around the base perimeter. The towers were mostly made of steel with metal roofs, and every tower had lightning rods. The braided copper ground wire ran from the roof into the ground in heavy conduit. One of our guys was seriously injured when his tower was struck by a bolt of lightning powerful enough to weld the front sight of his M16 to the steel planking inside the tower where it was leaning. Civil engineers investigated and found the copper grounding wire from the lightning rod only ran about a foot into the conduit at each end. Local national security troops over time apparently removed the copper and sold it downtown. On every damn tower on the base. And then they discovered it all over SEA. Copper thieves are an international phenomenon.

All water meters in my neighborhood are in the front yard, covered by a metal plate.

Location of the meter does not matter. If yours is near the street then you will only have a valve there and no meter. Same principal, one clamp before, one clamp after the shut off.

Question for ya Skins...

The last NEC I worked from was somewhere from the 1980's IIRC! I have a question you can likely answer.

I have an an old school mercury security light on a pole between my house and new pole barn. It’s about as bright as a lightning bug... and has no switch on it currently.

100 amp panel in the new barn 4 wire sub-fed from a main panel the house.

I want to put a new light on the pole, fed from the house, with a 3 way switch, one at the house and one in the barn to control it.

The actual install is easy enough for me, no problem there… the question is…

Is it code to have an electrical device (the switch) in the barn powered by another source. So you have a device in the barn fed from a source not controlled by the sub panel in the barn. You could have a “hot” device still active in the building even if the building panel main is turned off.

Your opinion please
Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
All water meters in my neighborhood are in the front yard, covered by a metal plate.

It doesn't freeze (much) in FL.

Here in places where we don't have aligators, feral boa constrictors and flying cockroaches because it freezes for months at a time, water pipes and meters are either installed below the frost line or in climate controlled spaces where they don't freeze

Water meter boxes at the street here. Mine is 150 feet from the house, PVC line.

I have seen it freeze 12 inches deep ONE year out of the 67 I've been here. Usually much less than half that most years.

Last copper thief I had to deal with was found next to the electrical box for a railroad crossing signal in a rural area. 200-Amp 240-Volt circuit, straight to ground from his hands through his feet. Not much left of the young man.

quote:

Question for ya Skins...

I can't think of any reason that would be prohibited.