another wiring question

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Jerry,

Thanks so much for the reply. I should have been a bit more clear. This wiring is in a barn. There's no water meter and no plumbing of any kind. Believe it or not, when this was served from the now-gone house the ground rod from the panel in the barn was INSIDE!

If I understand you correctly, I'm going to be driving an eight foot long rod into the ground. Is that right? If my locality wants it in the breaker panel can I just come out of the panel with the bare wire and go through the siding to the outside? It's a pole building with metal siding.

 

[MossRoad]

Our inspector made us put in 2 ground rods near the service disconnect and had us use one continuous piece of #4 solid copper from the bus inside the disconnect box through the clamp on the first rod to the second clamp on the second rod. He specified that it had to be one piece. Also made us put in a third ground rod near the sub panel in the garage.

Just for fun, I attached a diagram of our home wiring. Sometimes its fun to look at other peoples setups. I also like to hear from others how ours is different from theirs /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

David,

Thanks for the reply and the diagram. I think I'm going to be required to have the #4 copper from my breaker panel through the wall to two separate 8' ground rods as you describe. With no plumbing I'm guessing that'll be about it. I'm hoping to catch the electrical inspector in his office first thing in the AM to confirm that and get any other requirements regarding distances from the structure, etc. I'll post what I find out from them tomorrow if I catch him in the morning.

 

[Inspector507]

MossRoad,
The only thing I see in your diagram that I consider "wrong" is, the wire to the water lines should have come from the outside disconnect instead of the panel. Since the disconnect is installed, all bonding and grounding should be done there according to the NEC. But different parts of the country do things differently.

 

[MossRoad]

I agree with you. But I had to do it the way they said /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif. Another thing. All of our plumbing is plastic except for a little bit near the water heater. It still had to be bonded just in case.

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

OK, here's what I found out from our local inspector during a phone call this morning. I need to run #4 copper wire from the ground in the panel to two ground rods which must be 6' apart. I was surprised to find I could place these inside if I choose (I don't). There's no minimum or maximum distance from the box or the building required. It must be a single continuous run (as opposed to a run from the box to the first rod and a separate piece between the rods). The rods must be 8' and driven flush to the ground and the wire must be attached with "acorn style" connectors. The one bit of good news is that driving the rods into the ground ought to be a little easier this morning after the SIX INCHES OF RAIN we got here last night!

 

[Inspector507]

Fence post driver works real good for that if you have one.

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

<font color=blue>"Fence post driver works real good for that if you have one."</font color=blue>

I do NOW. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif After trying to do it with just a sledge hammer yesterday I went out & bought one last night. /w3tcompact/icons/clever.gif

 

[Carl_NH]

Gary,

I used to drive the 8' rods as well straight into the ground hitting rocks bending the rod etc. until one day I saw a guy driving it sideways/horizontal then bending the last few inches up then attaching the ground cable. Makes for a lot easier task and suffices the code per the inspector here in NH.

We have the similaer setup to MossRoad with two ground rods and one wire from the panel.

Carl

 

[MossRoad]

We used and air hammer with a custom snubby tip and a step ladder to get it started. BUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRPP and it was in /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif