Hello,
I am a newish owner of an old (1941) home in Oregon. I know next to nothing about electricity, but am here to learn! Hopefully, you will entertain my relative naivete of electricity and how it affects me in my new (old) home. :bye:
My first question, if anyone would be so helpful to provide feedback is:
This old home had galvanized metal water pipes. They were corroding from the inside, reducing water pressure severely. We just had them replaced with PEX plastic pipes. In the process of having them replaced, the plumber removed 3 grounding connections to the metal water pipe (obviously). One was an exposed copper wire coming out of the electrical panel/circuit breaker box, clamped directly to a water pipe. One was a clamp from a light fixture to another water pipe. The third was a clamp from the natural gas line to a water pipe. He said to contact an electrician about what to do next (he was a friend of a friend working for cash, not doing anything with a permit. Sorry, I know, I know).
Anyway, I emailed about 50 electricians about this, asking if the can provide me with an estimate to come out and "re-ground" the house/re-attach the grounding clamps to something other than PEX plastic water pipe. I did look and see that there is another exposed copper wire leaving the electrical panel, going out through the wall, and attached to a grounding rod, directly beneath the meter outside. My "understanding" is that my house was grounded to both the water pipe, and this grounding rod outside. Now, it is only grounded to the grounding rod obviously.
Almost all of the electricians (other than the ones who had dispatchers/secretaries reply with "we can come diagnose your problem for $105/hr) said something similar to this "The current code requires two ground rods spaced 6' apart in lieu of the
metal water pipe. We are also supposed to bond to the gas pipe (if you have gas)."
So I thought, OK, I should have someone come out and install another ground rod. However, one electrician said this "[FONT="]The requirement for 2 ground rods is for new installations. If you have one existing ground rod that can be verified, as you stated in your first email, then you have a code compliant installation. If the existing cannot be verified, then 2 new rods would be required."
[/FONT] So either I am still code compliant with my one grounding rod (and no water pipes) or I need another grounding rod. Easy enough.
However, I started reading (and getting lost) in electrical forums, which start to utterly confuse this newbie. The crux of my questions is - what does this grounding rod (or two) do? What does it protect me from? A lot of the information I've read says it protects me from a ground fault (such as an appliance having a loose wire, coming in contact with a metal casing of said appliance, and becoming energized or hot). BUT, much other information I have read said a grounding rod (or two) only protects me from a static discharge - meaning if my house gets hit by lightning. Many of these sites also said that having two grounding rods 6 feet apart may or may not provide any additional benefit over 1 rod, depending on soil conditions, etc. But 2 rods is code, so.....
Anyway, sorry for being a windbag. I am just trying to figure out if:
a) I should get another grounding rod installed.
b) What situations/dangers this/these grounding rods would protect me and my family from.
Thank you any and all for your input.
I am a newish owner of an old (1941) home in Oregon. I know next to nothing about electricity, but am here to learn! Hopefully, you will entertain my relative naivete of electricity and how it affects me in my new (old) home. :bye:
My first question, if anyone would be so helpful to provide feedback is:
This old home had galvanized metal water pipes. They were corroding from the inside, reducing water pressure severely. We just had them replaced with PEX plastic pipes. In the process of having them replaced, the plumber removed 3 grounding connections to the metal water pipe (obviously). One was an exposed copper wire coming out of the electrical panel/circuit breaker box, clamped directly to a water pipe. One was a clamp from a light fixture to another water pipe. The third was a clamp from the natural gas line to a water pipe. He said to contact an electrician about what to do next (he was a friend of a friend working for cash, not doing anything with a permit. Sorry, I know, I know).
Anyway, I emailed about 50 electricians about this, asking if the can provide me with an estimate to come out and "re-ground" the house/re-attach the grounding clamps to something other than PEX plastic water pipe. I did look and see that there is another exposed copper wire leaving the electrical panel, going out through the wall, and attached to a grounding rod, directly beneath the meter outside. My "understanding" is that my house was grounded to both the water pipe, and this grounding rod outside. Now, it is only grounded to the grounding rod obviously.
Almost all of the electricians (other than the ones who had dispatchers/secretaries reply with "we can come diagnose your problem for $105/hr) said something similar to this "The current code requires two ground rods spaced 6' apart in lieu of the
metal water pipe. We are also supposed to bond to the gas pipe (if you have gas)."
So I thought, OK, I should have someone come out and install another ground rod. However, one electrician said this "[FONT="]The requirement for 2 ground rods is for new installations. If you have one existing ground rod that can be verified, as you stated in your first email, then you have a code compliant installation. If the existing cannot be verified, then 2 new rods would be required."
[/FONT] So either I am still code compliant with my one grounding rod (and no water pipes) or I need another grounding rod. Easy enough.
However, I started reading (and getting lost) in electrical forums, which start to utterly confuse this newbie. The crux of my questions is - what does this grounding rod (or two) do? What does it protect me from? A lot of the information I've read says it protects me from a ground fault (such as an appliance having a loose wire, coming in contact with a metal casing of said appliance, and becoming energized or hot). BUT, much other information I have read said a grounding rod (or two) only protects me from a static discharge - meaning if my house gets hit by lightning. Many of these sites also said that having two grounding rods 6 feet apart may or may not provide any additional benefit over 1 rod, depending on soil conditions, etc. But 2 rods is code, so.....
Anyway, sorry for being a windbag. I am just trying to figure out if:
a) I should get another grounding rod installed.
b) What situations/dangers this/these grounding rods would protect me and my family from.
Thank you any and all for your input.
