Bonding of light poles to surrounding equipment

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APEElectrician

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At my work site we have a volleyball court with HID lighting. The voltage is 240VAC, and is grounded. My question concerns the volleyball net posts which are located about three feet from each light post and made of 4" galvanized pipe. Should the net posts be bonded to the light post?
 
I see no reason why the those posts may become energized. If the light poles are properly grounded there shouldn't be a problem.
 
APEElectrician said:
...volleyball net posts which are located about three feet from each light post and made of 4" galvanized pipe. Should the net posts be bonded to the light post?
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No question, I would - would not matter if code required or not. It's a safety issue. If you can reach between two metalic, grounded, objects, then bond them together.

I'm open to an explanation oif the error of my ways

carl
 
coulter said:
No question, I would - would not matter if code required or not. It's a safety issue. If you can reach between two metalic, grounded, objects, then bond them together.

I'm open to an explanation oif the error of my ways

carl
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I don't know if there is an error in your ways but plwease explain why you think this is necessary. I personally don't see why that would help.
 
Dennis Alwon said:
I don't know if there is an error in your ways but plwease explain why you think this is necessary. I personally don't see why that would help.
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Agreed, if the ground were soaking wet I would be more concerned about that than a metal pole.
 
Dennis Alwon said:
...plwease explain why you think this is necessary. I personally don't see why that would help.
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Dennis, Trevor -

Here's my thinking: Has to do with shock hazard. The concepts come from when I was working with the amateur radio club (in hgh school - yes vacuum tubes were in common production :roll: ) - we were designing and installing transmitting antennas. The practice was to always install the ground rod at least 7 feet away from any other grounded structures. The plan was to not be able to touch both the antenna ground and another grounded structure at the same time.

Now this has carried over to when I have two metalic structures in close proximity (say within 7 feet) and one of them can be energized (such as a light pole) my inclination is to bond the two together, That way they are at the same potential and one can't get shocked by touching both.

Of course if the light pole is bonded as it should be, the risk only lasts for the milliseconds it takes the CB to trip. Now I'm starting to wonder if this is a hold over from 15 years ago, when I still clearly understood 250.4. :confused: Have to give this some more thought.

carl
 
Carl,
my inclination is to bond the two together, That way they are at the same potential and one can't get shocked by touching both.
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True, but now you have two energized structures that are both a shock hazard to earth.
Don
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
Carl,

True, but now you have two energized structures that are both a shock hazard to earth.
Don
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Don has given an even better reason to not bond them together.
 
I heard some electricians chatting the other day. They were all worried about the fact that they had not been provided a stub out out of the concrete to ground an outdoor MV MCC to.

There is steel structure about ten feet away that has two large ground cables adjacent to it running into the concrete. Why they think they can't just clamp onto these two existing ground cables ten feet away is beyond me.
 
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