ELECTRICAL GROUNDING SAFETY - Southern California Gas Company

[mtnelect]

I receive almost weekly these underground alerts brochures from many utilities. But this one caught my attention, since it specifically mentions Electrical Grounding.

 

[retirede]

It isn’t about electrical safety, per se. They simply don’t want a rod driven through their gas line.

 

[mtnelect]

It isn’t about electrical safety, per se. They simply don’t want a rod driven through their gas line.

I agree, but it brought back memories of when a crew was installing the new 170 controller cabinet, and at that time the county was installing a second ground rod, when it punched through a telephone main trunkline that took out the whole city for a couple of days. So, yes you really have to be careful where you drive a ground rod.

 

[jaggedben]

There was an incident in SoCalGas territory a year or so ago where a solar installer put a rod through a gas pipe and someone died, iirc. Probably why they put that out.

IMO a good argument against AHJs enforcing the latest NEC grounding requirements on existing buildings. For solar or anything else, including resi overhead service upgrades. If the building has any grounding and you aren't doing digging and can't put in a ufer, let them go with the existing grounding. More lives were lost in that one incident than were saved by the hundreds of thousands of ground rods that have been required on residential solar installations in California.

 

[ramsy]

the county was installing a second ground rod, when it punched through a telephone main trunkline that took out the whole city

Good argument for calling Dig Alert for ground rods.

More lives were lost in that one incident than were saved by the hundreds of thousands of ground rods

Too many ignoramuses install ground rods, before calling 811.

Dig Alert is free, if called before possible damages.