I have a question regarding cold water pipe as a grounding electrode in an older (1960's) house. When I moved in (1996), the only grounding electrode was the cold water pipe. I installed supplemental ground rods and under direction from our city inspector bonded both the ground rods and water pipe to the service entrance ground bar.
I will be selling the house soon and went back looking at things. As I understand it, NEC 250.52 does not allow the cold water pipe to be part of the grounding electrode beyond 5' where it enters the premises. The inspector had me bond it to a cold water pipe near the service entrance, but the service entrance is more like 25' from where the cold water pipe enters the house. Question is: Is there a length restriction on how long a bare conductor may run to comply with the 5' rule? 250.64 discusses whether protection is needed or not but doesn't seem to have a length restriction. Also, previous owner(s) had a receptacle's equipment ground connected to a cold water pipe. I believe this was acceptable prior to 1993 code? Would the buyer's inspector mark this as a defect?
Thanks
I will be selling the house soon and went back looking at things. As I understand it, NEC 250.52 does not allow the cold water pipe to be part of the grounding electrode beyond 5' where it enters the premises. The inspector had me bond it to a cold water pipe near the service entrance, but the service entrance is more like 25' from where the cold water pipe enters the house. Question is: Is there a length restriction on how long a bare conductor may run to comply with the 5' rule? 250.64 discusses whether protection is needed or not but doesn't seem to have a length restriction. Also, previous owner(s) had a receptacle's equipment ground connected to a cold water pipe. I believe this was acceptable prior to 1993 code? Would the buyer's inspector mark this as a defect?
Thanks