Another elec. to pole barn ques. re: bonding

[woodlot]

Hope you guys can help. I've got a delemma. This weekend I'll be running a 200amp service to a new pole barn. I was going to run it from my homes main panel but my plans have changed. I'm now going to run it from the main disconnect panel that sits directly under the meter. The meter and main disconnect sit in the yard, about 150ft from the house. The main disconnect is a "through lug" type so it will serve the homes main panel and the main panel in the barn. The neutral is bonded to the grounding electrodes within the main disconnect panel. There is currently 3-wires serving the house and there will be 3 wires serving the barn (no bonding wire to either structure). There are no other metal paths between the pedestal and the structures so the 3-wire system should be fine. HOWEVER, and my DELEMMA, is this: there will be RG-6 and cat5e wire running between the house and the barn. Is that a code violation or a safty issue???? As always thanks for your help!

attached is a pic of the building site. I had a dozer come in and build the pad, no fill was used. My soil is primarly sand so I saved a bundle. It will take the framing crew 2.5 days to build.

 

[countrybumpkin]

As for codes, you would need to check with your local building inspector. I have no codes were I live and placed all my cable in one trench. It was about 16" wide and I laid the cables as far away from each other as possible. Just to help with interference. I've had no trouble so far over the last 5 years. I put water, eletric, phone, cable , and enternet.

 

[CTyler]

I guess it depends on the code in your area. I ran two 2" electrical conduits between the house and shop. One for communications and the other for electrical. They are in the same trench aprox 12" apart from each other. No problems.

 

[SPIKER]

Woodlot:

everything seems fine with the primary wiring (3 wires from main disconnect under the meter to each structure) make sure there is a good ground rod at each structure then tie them to the N wire, this is where it will tie back to the disconnect panel bonded to that through the N to each other will essencially be bonded to each other in that way. the main breaker panels in each building will be bonded to the Ground rods at each building as well.

NOW this is where I'm not 100% upto new codes, the secondary wiring (cat5, RG6 ect) will also be tieing the two structures together. but at a substancially lower rating if something bad should occure. I believe the bonded ground rods to N should stop any problems unless the N wire gets broken between ONE of the 2 structures, THEN the N will be gotten by the ground rod & the secondary wires..

so that being said I would be inclined to say ask the local inspector..
markM

 

[woodlot]

<font color="purple">"that being said I would be inclined to say ask the local inspector."</font>

Mark, thanks for your reply. I live in one of those rural areas that has no inspections on this type of work. In fact we had no inspections of ANY kind untill 6 months ago. Now in my township new homes and additions are the only things getting inspected. Its up to me to get this right. I did ask the POCO and when the plan came to the LV wire and my question "is this ok per code" I got an answer of......"well,um,er,not really sure on that, should be ok, I guess." That really didn't give me the assurance I was looking for.

 

[Tim_in_IA]

They sell grounding blocks for RG6 for sure. I'm pretty sure they'd also have something for the CAT* wire. The important thing is to make sure each building has a local ground. Just install a ground block for each service at each end and you should be okay. This is my opinion and not a legal assesment /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[JimMorrissey]

This is code in our area....seperate conduit with a minimum of 12" apart. This would be an electrical trench for power / cable / phone etc. NOT sewer or water.

 

[cmuncy]

OK
This is what I would do.

First, make sure both panels have a sufficiant ground rod per code. Wire up both panels without thinking of the RG-6 or CAT 5 wires.

Now, run your RG-6 from the house to the barn. Hook it up at the house and put a connector on the barn side but don't hook it up.

Take your volt meter, put it on VAC, and take one probe and connect to BARN ground and the other to the SHIELD on the RG-6. Being that the 2 structures are close together and everything is bonded well, you should see maybe a few millivolts of AC voltage across the ground connection. If it were a few VOLTS, that would be a huge issue and a call to an electrician would be advisable.

Just remember, stuff like this is done every day in office building and business complexes that don't share common load panels or grounds.

I believe that you will be just fine.

 

[VA_Joe]

Given that you will be running a computer network off of copper wire - I would recommend running a #6 ground wire between the two structures. You might run into a problem with your network if the two buildings do not have a connected ground. The cost of the #6 is minimal when compared to the cost of the wire for the mains and neutral.

The other option - if problems do occur - is to optically isolate the two networks. This will eliminate any possibility of ground loops over the copper network wire.

Joe

 

[Tim_in_IA]

You also could check with your electric company. I know in rural areas like I live in they can do free evaluations for stray voltage and grounding issues and the like.