Provided was an example of wire impedance (it was not a
discussion of branch circuits); which explains WHY each earth
ground connection must be short, no splices, no sharp bends,
not inside metallic conduit, etc. Wire has impedance which
is why short wire length is critical to earthing for
transistor protection.

To repeat what was posted: Cinergy also demonstrates
solutions to bad construction - where the utilities don't
enter at a common location. The need for single point
earthing is good for human safety but essential to transistor
safety.

Above is about earthing for the secondary protection
'system'. www.tvtower.com demonstrates earthing of the
primary protection 'system'. Layered protection 'systems'.
Each layer of protection is defined by its single point earth
ground. http://www.tvtower.com/fpl.html also demonstrates
another earth ground that contributes to transistor
protection.

Polyphaser discusses protecting incoming wires from
lightning. If your house is not adjacent to a 50 foot radio
tower, then a 'tower' that lightning seeks is your house or
those utility poles that connect directly to household
transistors. Earthing that applies to protecting radio towers
also applies to home protection. To lightning, that tower and
those incoming house wires are same.

But then Polyphaser - an industry benchmark - discusses more
that just radio towers. What does Polyphaser discuss? Their
products? Of course not. Polyphaser discusses earthing - the
most critical component also in a home protection system.
What is discussed here? Earthing the house - for same reasons
that Polyphaser describes in:
http://www.polyphaser.com/ppc_ptd_home.aspx

Same principle that were once standard in places that had
electronics - radio stations and telephone switching stations
- are now necessary in other buildings that also have
electronics - the home.

Why extensive earthing of those FL homes?
http://members.aol.com/gfretwell/ufer.jpg
Again, water pipe earth ground alone just is not sufficient.
Not sufficient to meet code AND not sufficient to protect
household transistors.

Bud-- wrote:
w_tom wrote:
I never talked about branch ckts and don't want to start now. If
I did I would want a citation for 120 ohms.
Impedance of ground rod and water pipe would be relevant.
...

Perhaps because a supplementary ground is required for a water pipe
because it may be replaced by plastic and ground rods are way worse than
either. Not obvious who "they" are. If it is gfretwell, in a current
thread he says the gound conductivity near him is very bad. Sounds like
the Ufer is a foundation ring. An unrelated video tape shows driving a
10' rod in Florida with a water table about 3' down, connecting 120V and
getting a current of about 1.5A (implies 80 ohms ground resistance).
...

Probably mean ground ring in NEC. Phaser uses halo (in the air) and it
isn't what you want.

-----------
I actually only planned to respond to your citations in response to me
and pop:
...

Cinergy in effect talks about a common ground reference which I have
emphasized several times. We probably substantialy, but not entirely
agree on this. Nothing on water pipes and ground rods which we don't
agree on.

Where does the human start to
eliminate transistor damage? Earth ground as even
demonstrated in that previous www.tvtower.com citation.

I have no idea what at that site is relevant

Polyphaser
discusses THE most critical component in protection - earth
ground:
http://www.polyphaser.com/ppc_ptd_home.aspx

The most consistent protection in the papers is having a common ground
reference for power and signal. They talk about using ground rods only
to ground towers - which constitute large lightning rods. No one
protects their house from direct lightning strikes unless they install
lightning rods/air terminals. Most of the info is specific to lightning,
towers and antenna coax - not particularly relevant to grounding
elsewhere. If you are going to cite it you should pick out the relevant
papers, if any.

bud--