bud-- wrote:

On 6/2/2013 12:40 PM, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

Phil Allison wrote:

"Humbled Survivor"

Can I ground out my outdoor FM antenna from the pole?

** Yep.

The pole needs to be linked to metal plumbing with a heavy gauge copper
wire.

Does the negative of the coaxial cable have to be grounded?

** If it is isolated by a "balun", then yep - it a good idea too.

Which method is best for preventing lightening strikes?

** Can I suggest you make your peace with god right now ??

... Phil


It's illegal to use a pipe for ground in the US. The joints corrode,
and are high resistance to ground after years of use. You had to
install a bonding jumper around a water meter, years ago when it was
legal.

The NEC *requires* a metal water service pipe (minimum 10 feet long in
the earth) be used as an earthing electrode, just like it has since time
began. Connection now has to be withing 5 feet of the entrance to the
house, and meters still have to have a bond around. Because plastic
water service pipe is becoming more common a "supplemental" electrode is
now also required. A metal municipal water system is the best earthing
electrode that is available at a house.


Not everyone is on municipal water, or even have a water meter. My
well is physically over 100 feet from my electrical service, in another
building. In fact, the actual pump is 20 feet past the original well
house so a bonding wire between the pump and the pole mounted drop would
be worthless. The wire is over 150 feet, and goes through three breaker
boxes before it reaches the wellhead, and another 85' downhole to the
pump itself. The casing is well grounded, and so is the old casing from
a 50' well that went dry.


Some fools have used the wrong pipe for natural gas, then another
fool assumed they were water lines and used them for a ground. The
results were explosive and sometimes fatal.

Gas service pipe is not allowed to be used as an earthing electrode by
the NEC. But gas pipe is grounded by branch circuits, like at gas furnace.


They used orange plastic pipe for gas service at the last place I
could get natural gas. There was a 14 AWG tracer wire run along the
side of the plastic, in case it needed to be located in the future. At
that time, only black iron was allowed. I should know, since I had to
replace the 40+ year old pipe. It was real fun getting a 21' piece of
black iron down a 10' stairwell. You should have seen the inspector
scratching his head, trying to figure that out. ;-)


CSST (corrugated stainless steel tubing) is becoming real common for
interior gas pipe because it is so easy to use. It is easy to use
because the wall is so thin. There have been many fires from arcing
between the thin pipe and nearby grounded surfaces. I believe all the
manufacturers now require the pipe be bonded to the house earthing
system in a way that results in the gas supply pipe being an earthing
electrode. 'Properly' bonded CSST has also caused fires. A
recommendation by an electrical inspector is for electricians to not do
the bonding, then they will not be named in the lawsuit.


I wouldn't use that, unless the local code demanded it. Even then, I
would consider having no gas appliances, or furnace. I haven't used the
furnace here, in the 14 years i've lived here. I am going to take it
out, since the firebox is now so rusted that it wouldn't be safe to
use.