The Nec states that if water piping is available it must be used as a gec and supplemented by another electrode. Does that mean you always have to connect to the water pipe first(continuous run) and then connect to a rebar , rod, pipe, concrete encase electrode? Or can connection to the water pipping be secondary?
GEC
- Thread starter pedro1200
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- New Jersey
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- Journeyman Electrician (retired)
No, it just means that you''ll need more than one electrode if one of them is the water pipe. You can run a separate GEC to each electrode or run a single GEC to one electrode and then bonding jumpers to the other electrodes.
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- Licensed Electrician
There are no secondary electrodes. All grounding electrodes present are bonded together and make a grounding electrode system.
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician (retired)
I agree, and there are no primary electrodes either. For some reason many electrical professionals see it (primary and secondary) that way.
Maybe is the use of the word supplemented which can lead people to think one comes before the other
- Location
- New Jersey
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- Journeyman Electrician (retired)
Could be.
All mike holts illustration show all other electrodes connected to water piping and then connection to the ground bar which can lead to confusion
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician (retired)
Good point. It should be noted that the graphic is just a representation of one way to connect the components of the GES together. It is by no means a required method.
One reason the illustrations are drawn the way they are is that the water pipe electrode and the building steel electrodes require the largest GEC's. Hitting those first allows reduced jumpers, if done in reverse all the jumpers would be required to be sized for the largest GEC