Bidirectional Antenna ground wire on mid-rise building

[tico17]

hey guys, i have a fire alarm company requesting a ground wire in a building from the 10th floor roof all the way to my main service. i have a meter bank in 10th floor which i ran a metal EMT plus i ran a equipment ground wire with my feeders. i use that ground wire for my meters and i came out with a #6 a put a bar for his equipment, he is requesting that county inspector wants a separate ground all the way from my main gear in first floor all the way to 10th floor.

i asked him what code reference his using to understand what he wants but he said is the county and code books doesn't matter with his thoughts.

any idea if he is right on this?

 

[zbang]

Is he paying for it?

Could be a FA code, but even then he ought to be able to cite it. Also sounds like a "shirt pocket" rule.

 

[infinity]

Can you provide some context as to what you mean by a ground wire? What is the purpose of this conductor?

 

[tico17]

he wants a ground conductor to bond metal for BDA antenna on the roof, which fire contractor run his #6 wire to my electrical room

 

[infinity]

Would this antenna be covered under 810.21?

 

[synchro]

You might ask the fire alarm company if the manufacturer of the Bi-Directional Amplifier system antenna is requiring a separate isolated EGC. If they require it, ask if you can see the document that specifies this.

 

[suemarkp]

Would this antenna be covered under 810.21?

And getting there via 810.20 or 810.57.

We are usually permitted to connect these to any portion of the ground electrode system, and we typically have building steel to use. If no building steel, you need to see whether you can use the EGC as a GEC. I thought there was some recent addition to the code disallowing an EGC to be a GEC even if it met all the rules for size, splicing, etc.