Fence grounding

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greenspark1

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New England
Hello,
I have a personal chain link fence around a project. It is just to keep the curious public out. The project is NOT a substation, medium voltage, or anything like that. There are no electrical components attached to the fence. There are some site light poles scattered around which will have their own ground rods. The fence is not within touch of anything else.

Is a chain link fence like this required to be grounded? I can't see any advantage to grounding it since there is no chance of touch/step potential. The exception is if there's a lightning strike, in which case you're fried anyway.

250.190 calls out grounding all metal and fences, but this seems ridiculous if there's no electricity nearby.
 
No NEC requirement for this fence
250.190 is not ridiculous if you look at what Part of Article 250 the section is located.
 
250.190 Applies to fences 'associated' with electrical equipment. Whatever that means. I would think yours wouldn't fit.

My AHJ can be a bit random on this. Most resi gets ignored but if it's a big box store then they say 'Put a rod in anyway.' ( We have a separate fire rule. )

Questions: Temporary or permanent. Is there power to the site? Is the only public danger of the nuisance kind or will there be exposed live conductors at any time? Not that the code cares but I am trying to further clarify the purpose of the fence. In other words, is the fence ancillary to providing separation and guarding of live parts or does it provide some guarding function even though from a distance? ( I'm really over-thinking this. )
 
tom baker said:
No NEC requirement for this fence
250.190 is not ridiculous if you look at what Part of Article 250 the section is located.
Click to expand...

Good point- systems >1000V. Still seems a bit silly if you are far away from the electrical system.

@starbolin- I appreciate your response and comments from your experience. There is permanent power to the site with a 2500kVA 13kv-480V pad mounted transformer. No exposed conductors at any time. Any other triggers you've seen that cause the AHJ to require it?
 
250.194 in the 2014 NEC covers the fence grounding and it only applies to systems operating at 1000 volts or more and then only where there are exposed electrical conductors.
 
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