Bob F wrote:
I acquired a length of 3/8" stranded stainless steel cable (from sailboat
rigging) at a metal recycler. I am planning to use this as my ground "rod" for
my house electrical system. Is there any reason this would not be a good choice
for my grounding system if I run it down 15 feet, well into the water table,
which is 7-10 feet down.

I will do this by using PVC pipe and water pressure to tunnel into the ground,
inserting the cable, then pulling the PVC out.

Should I leave my current galvanized rod connected also if I do this?

If for some reason you want to add the stainless cable, yes leave the
current galvanized rod connected. If you are worried your current
ground rod is not sufficient, you may want to update it to latest code.
I *think* that is 2 10' rods 6' apart. If it's new construction the
ground starts out with all the rebar in the footer. It has to be
electrically connected and inspected before the footer is poured. Part
of the rebar, or maybe copper wire from the rebar in the footer is then
attached as your ground without the 10' stakes. (I think that is
right?) I just installed 2 10' ground rods I think 6' apart so I can
have a service going directly to the garage. I'm not sure about all of
that, I was relying on my brother, an electrician, to do the work and I
was the helper. Well not exactly. He let me hammer in the 2 10' ground
rods. (was ready to rent a big hammer drill if needed but it wasn't needed).

To avoid 2 bills which the power co. charges commercial rates for the
2nd one, I'm having a "current transformer" installed out on the pole
with the transformer. From the pole there will be a service going to
the house, and a second one going to the garage. The "current
transformer" monitors both services and powers a meter out on the pole
so I only get one bill. And they won't have to get out of the truck to
read the meter since it will be a newer infra-red optical output that is
read from a hand held unit pointed out of the truck window.