2 Services Sharing Ground rods

[RobertCyr]

I have townhomes with each unit having its own 200A service from the utility. The services are about 8' apart. Can you install 2 ground rods between the services and connect those to the 2 meter enclosures, in essence sharing the ground rods for the 2 separate services? My proposal is a GEC connecting in this way: meter-rod-6'-rod-meter

 

[Jpflex]

Ground electrode rods must be buried I think 8 or 10 feet down but not 6’ nec

 

[petersonra]

I have townhomes with each unit having its own 200A service from the utility. The services are about 8' apart. Can you install 2 ground rods between the services and connect those to the 2 meter enclosures, in essence sharing the ground rods for the 2 separate services? My proposal is a GEC connecting in this way: meter-rod-6'-rod-meter

I can't think of any reason you can't.

 

[ptonsparky]

Ground electrode rods must be buried I think 8 or 10 feet down but not 6’ nec

I think he means 6' apart.

 

[RobertCyr]

Yes, the rods will be 6' apart. I understand that if there is one service feed to the building with a 2 meter bank there will be only one set of ground rods. In my case though, there are 2 separate services from the utility. Not sure if 250.64(D) covers this scenario.

 

[RobertCyr]

By the way, we are on 2014 NEC. After further reading, I believe 250.58 requires the services to share the same grounding electrode.

 

[roger]

I can't think of any reason you can't.

Neither can I.

 

[jaggedben]

Not only is there no reason you can't, but you are more or less required to, because all electrodes at a structure must be connected together. So you could drive more ground rods than necessary, but you couldn't not connect both services to them.

 

[102 Inspector]

Just curious, does the grounding system cross any property lines that might restrict this. I know you can't run a service through someone else's building, and this would be outside, possibly under a homeowners control. Just asking for a friend.

 

[petersonra]

Just curious, does the grounding system cross any property lines that might restrict this. I know you can't run a service through someone else's building, and this would be outside, possibly under a homeowners control. Just asking for a friend.

That's a good question.

 

[RobertCyr]

No property lines are crossed. This is more like a condo. One central owner and each unit is a rental. The local utility approved the separate services.