On Mon, 25 Jul 2016 08:32:08 -0700 (PDT), DerbyDad03
wrote:

On Monday, July 25, 2016 at 11:17:02 AM UTC-4, trader_4 wrote:

...snip...

250.50 is a bit weird.
Suppose for example you had an old ground rod on the other side of the
house. That is also present, so strictly following the code, you'd
have to either pull that out of the ground or use it too?


Your description of "old ground rod" is not clear to me. Are you talking
about an abandoned ground rod with no conductor attached to it? If so, IMO
that would not have to be used. If it did, then all those spare grounds
rods stashed in the shed would also have to be used. Aren't they "present"
also?

I take 250.50 to mean that if an object is *used* as a grounding electrode
then it must be *bonded to all other grounding electrodes*. Just having a
piece of metal - even if the receipt says "ground rod" - pounded into
the ground doesn't make it a grounding electrode.

That's my two cents.

...and that's mine.

...and I could be wrong. ;-)



I have never heard of inspectors going looking for unused "made
electrodes" but the ones that are inherent in the building shall be
used. I have heard of it going so far that people have had to chip
into foundations to get to the rebar for a Ufer on new construction.
The reality is that the ufer connection is part of the foundation
inspection so it should be available after the concrete is placed.
In our area they allow connection to turned up rebar so it is not
likely to be broken off or stolen like you get with a copper wire.
The issue would be that the core gets poured solid along with the
other doweled cells.
They paint that block green.
http://gfretwell.com/electrical/ufer.jpg

OTOH if the inspector actually insists that the Ufer is totally
encased in concrete, the fix is to pour that cell full after the panel
is set and the GEC is run, near the end of construction when the
thieves are less likely to steal it and it is less likely to be broken
off.