On Monday, October 28, 2013 3:06:05 PM UTC-4, Scott Lurndal wrote:
" writes:

On Monday, October 28, 2013 9:18:34 AM UTC-4, philo=A0 wrote:



=20

He did not say /ungrounded/ he said grounded to water line

=20





Again, it's perfectly normal to see CATV, phone grounded to

a cold water line. There is nothing wrong with it, it doesn't

have to be changed and it has nothing to do with the OP's problem.



And again, it's perfectly normal to see the electrical panel

grounded to the cold water line. It's not a code violation.

Good grief.



Section 250.104 of the NEC requires that metal water piping systems

be bonded to one of the following:



* Service Equipment enclosure (at service entrance)

* Grounded neutral service conductor (at service entrance)

* Grounding electrode conductor when sized per table 250.66

* One of the electrodes of the grounding electrode system.



The grounding conductor must be sized appropriately with respect

to the largest ungrounded service conductor (e.g. AWG2 for 4/0 service entrance).



This is for safety purposes, not to provide a grounding conductor for the

premises.



This _DOES NOT IMPLY THAT SUCH A BONDING CONDUCTOR MAY REPLACE A CODE COMPLIANT

GROUNDING ELECTRODE SYSTEM_.



In other words, the water pipe is bonded _to_ the real grounding means. The water pipe

may not _be_ the premises grounding means (as of the 1999 code, or possibly earlier).


It may not be the *only* grounding electrode. The water service
pipe entering the house is however one of a number of permissible
grounding electrodes that can be part of the grounding system.







I suspect this is the root of your disagreement.



FWIW, bonding CATV to a cold water line isn't done by most cable systems anymore,

as they have no assurance that the cold water line is actually bonded to the

premises grounding electrodes, particularly in regions of the country where

the water service lines were non-metallic or have been replaced by non-metallic

piping (per the local Comcast tech staff).



scott

I agree, for new, recent contruction. But what was proposed was
to send the OP off on a search for things like CATV, phone,
and even the electric panel that are
connected to a water pipe and that such a connection is "no
longer code". That to me at least, implies that it's something
that is wrong and possibly the source of his shock problem.
In fact, there are millions of older homes where the cable
TV is bonded to a cold water pipe. Nothing wrong,
inherently unsafe, or that needs to be fixed. In fact, it's
still code compliant to ground a CATV cable to a water pipe,
under certain circumstances.