I started looking at the grounding system to my new house when a 42" piece of ground rod was rototilled up in my yard. When I opened up the panel to see if the grounding electrode wires were installed all I found was a #6 wire going to a ground rod. No ufer, no water bond. I called the city(Shelbyville, Ky.) to have the inspector stop by. He did, and he informed me that since the grounding conductors were tied to the grounded conductors it would be ok and the the circuit breakers would trip if something came in contact with any metal in the system. I have never heard anything like this. I told him let's assume the ground rod has 5 ohms of resistance, so if an ungrounded conductor came in contact with a metal surface in the system, 24 amps would flow to earth and how would a 20, 30, 40,50, or 60 amp breaker trip. Heck it could be hours before a 15 amp breaker tripped the way I understand it. But again he went back to the grounded conductor and the gound conductor were tied in the panel. He even called a George Mann in Frankfort Ky. Who I assumed was his boss and let me talk to him and the man basically told me I didn't know what I was talking about. Could some please clarify for me who's right, and help me in getting me house properly grounded.